Live animal vendors at San Francisco's farmers' markets overcrowd animals in direct sunlight with no water, cram animals upside-down in paper bags inside plastic bags, and set aside injured birds for later sale or eventual dispatch. Customers then take them home (often in their car trunks, after carrying them around shopping) and kill them when and how they wish (for food, ritual sacrifice or fighting), unsupervised and unregulated, these "spent hens" (worn-out egg-laying birds) and "small game birds" are exempt from California's poultry slaughter laws, and these birds (along with rabbits) are exempt from federal slaughter laws.
Cruelty to all animals is prohibited by California Penal Code sections 597(a), 597(b), 597a, 597t and 597.3 (597.3 applies to non-"poultry" birds only), yet authorities currently refuse to fully enforce these laws when it comes to farm animals -- even though no animals are exempt (except to the extent necessary for slaughter for food, for hunting and for research). Additionally, California Food and Agriculture Code section 26602 requires that all persons transporting poultry carry appropriate written records or they may be arrested without warrant.
What You Can Do:
Contact the San Francisco District Attorney's office (email erica.derryck@sfgov.org and districtattorney@sfgov.org) and politely ask that Kamala Harris pursue prosecution of live animal vendors whose cases have been turned over to them by Animal Care and Control. To date, the office has refused to prosecute vendors who have been cited for violations of state animal cruelty laws, and (along with Animal Care & Control) incorrectly asserts that poultry are exempt from the laws.
Contact the Commission of Animal Control and Welfare (email sally.stephens@sfgov.org) and politely ask that they instruct Animal Care and Control to properly enforce the California Penal Code and the California Food and Agriculture Code.
Contact the Department of Animal Care and Control (email kat.brown@sfgov.org and rebecca.katz@sfgov.org) and politely ask that they put a stop to unnecessary animal cruelty by properly enforcing the California Penal Code's animal cruelty laws.
Contact market management and politely explain that they may be found personally guilty for laws violated by their vendors, and ask that they ensure that their vendors abide by the laws or be banned from the markets:
U.N. Plaza (Civic Center), Wednesdays and Sundays
• Christine Adams, Manager
The Heart of the City Farmers Market Community Advisory Board
1182 Market St. #412
San Francisco, CA 94102
(415) 558-9455
hocfarmersmarket@gmail.com
• Amy Brown, Director of Real Estate
Real Estate Division City and County of San Francisco
25 Van Ness Ave., Ste. 400
San Francisco, CA 94102
amy.brown@sfgov.org
Alemany Blvd. (across the street from the official farmers' market, in a church parking lot), Saturdays
• Reverend Rance Whiteside
Good Hope Baptist Church
551 Nevada St.
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 824-9662
Report Animal Abuse. If you witness animal abuse at a market, contact Animal Care and Control at (415) 554-6364, file a complaint, and ask for an "Activity Report Number." Don't allow them to attempt to cite cruelty to chickens under California Penal Code section 597.3 (as they have been doing in San Francisco), as poultry are exempt and the charges will simply be dismissed. Instead, insist that they apply other valid sections under 597.
San Francisco’s Mission Beach Café prides itself for specializing in local, sustainable and seasonal food. Unfortunately, it also serves rabbit meat. See a sample menu here: Mission Beach Cafe Menu
Please call or email Mission Beach Café and politely ask them to remove rabbit from their menu. Let them know that rabbits don't belong on U.S. dinner plates any more than do horses, guinea pigs, rats, or dogs, all of whom end up on menus in other countries.
CAUTION -- Graphic Content below
How Rabbits Are Slaughtered:
"The preferred method is dislocation of the neck. The rabbit is held firmly by the rear legs and head; it is stretched full length. Then with a hard, sharp pull, the head is bent backward to dislocate the neck. The rabbit can also be struck a hard, quick blow to the skull behind the ears. A blunt stick or side of the hand is commonly used to incapacitate the rabbit. After dislocation or stunning, the rabbit is hung by one of the hind legs above the hock joint. The head is immediately removed to allow complete bleeding." (Source: Dr. Tom W. Smith, Emeritus Professor of Poultry Science, Mississippi State University from the publications Domestic Rabbit Biology and Production by L. R. Arrington and K. C. Kelley and Raising Rabbits, USDA Farmers' Bulletin No. 2131.)
California Governor Schwarzenegger has repeatedly targeted pets with catastrophic budget cuts, but voters united to stop him in the past. Share your opinion about Governor Schwarzenegger's current plan to shorten shelter animals' chances at adoption by forcing earlier euthanasia.
CONTACT
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814
phone (916) 445-2841
fax 916) 558-3160
To email the governor:
http://gov.ca.gov/interact#contact
From Examiner.com:
Schwarzenegger swings budget axe at homeless animals, urging faster shelter killing
Schwarzenegger is using the budget crunch to renew a previous attempt to drastically shorten the holding period animals must be kept at government-funded shelters. According to the Times, “In 2004, Schwarzenegger made a similar proposal, saying cutting the minimum number of days shelters had to keep pets would save the state $14 million annually.”
Pushback from voters forced the Governor to shelve the plan, but despite the clear support demonstrated by Californians at that time for homeless, lost, and abandoned animals, once again he is attempting to use a financial crisis to eliminate hard-won laws that give pet owners the chance to find lost pets, and homeless animals even the briefest window of opportunity to find a home. According to SF Gate, “The proposal would allow shelters to euthanize stray pets after only three days, down from six.”
Animals need time to find homes, especially seniors, larger dogs and both black dogs and cats.
This isn’t the only time recently that the Governor has aimed the budget axe at the most voiceless (and vote-less?) in our society; in November of 2008 he proposed taxing veterinary care, classifying such lifesaving services as “luxuries,” in a category with golf, amusement parks, and sporting events.
Kitten season means a massive influx of cats and kittens into shelters. The Governor's proposal would give them just three days to find a home.
Is the Governor betting that the financial situation has gotten so bad that Californians are now ready to throw lost and homeless dogs, cats, and other companion animals out of the lifeboat? Or can pushback from Californians once again remind him that in the state where he chose to run for Governor we really do care about animals? We are against cruelty and neglect, and we believe that (at the most selfish level) if our dog or cat becomes we lost, both we and our pet deserve a fair chance of finding each other before the cost of a bowl of food and some clean water become too financially burdensome for the state.
Safeway stores in Washington State and elsewhere are now offering frozen rabbit parts as a snack food. Located in the freezer case and displayed much like buffalo wings, Safeway is trying to start a new line of mass consumption novelty products based on rabbit meat.
This marks a new attempt by the rabbit processing industry to make rabbit meat more mainstream. The rabbit meat comes from Pel-Freez Arkansas, the largest rabbit processor in the United States, which "processes" rabbits from breeders across the US and now, evidently, China as well.
This attempt to move rabbit meat from a marginal product to a mainstream product is a signal of bad news to come for rabbits. As production ramps up, the rabbits being bred and killed will suffer even more. (Pel-Freez's website has an online application that anyone can fill out to become a Pel-Freez supplier of rabbits.)
If you are concerned about this trend and want to let Safeway know your concerns, you can send them a polite note to:
Customer Service Center
Safeway Inc. — M/S 10501
P.O. BOX 29093
Phoenix, AZ 85038 - 9093
Safeway, by the way, has a statement on their website about animal welfare and its "comprehensive animal welfare program to ensure that both its national brand and private label suppliers have programs in place standard for the humane treatment of animals in all aspects of animal husbandry, shipment, and handling during the harvest process." Rabbits are not covered under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Law, so there is no way to ensure that under current law rabbits raised and slaughtered for food do get humane treatment.
Safeway owns Vons, Kroger, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Genuardi's and Carrs.
On their website, The Marin Wine Auction has just REMOVED Devil's Gulch from the list of beneficiaries for the first annual wine auction.
HOWEVER, just because Devil's Gulch is no longer listed does not necessarily mean that they are no longer a beneficiary.
In fact, some callers to the event organizer report they have been hung up on. After our alert, the event organizers have been sending out emails to people stating that Devil's Gulch is not a beneficiary. If Devil's Gulch is truly NOT a beneficiary anymore then please thank the organizers for their compassionate change of heart.
Please tell the organizers and sponsors of the First Annual Marin Wine Auction that animal abuse is not a charity!
Your emails and calls are needed NOW!
TIME SENSITIVE!
We just learned that Devil's Gulch rabbit, pig, sheep and poultry meat producers and processors is a beneficiary of the First Annual Marin Wine Auction being held on September 13 at the Marin Art and Garden Center in Ross, Marin County.
Even if you are not a resident of Marin County, the animals need your voice NOW.
The Marin Wine Auction is being billed as a charitable fundraiser celebrating "Giving and Living in Marin. Devil's Gulch Ranch "educational services" teaches kids to raise, slaughter and process domestic rabbits (along with pigs, sheep and other animals) to provide luxury meat to restaurants.
Under the trendy guise of "sustainable agriculture" these gentle, highly intelligent companion animals, who are readily available for adoption just like cats and dogs, are killed for their meat and fur.
It's a betrayal of trust, pure and simple. Nurturing a child's natural love of four-legged creatures, animal butchering programs like those offered by Devil's Gulch Ranch - CLICK HERE FOR DEVIL'S GULCH - educate kids in one of life's cruelest hypocrisies. Children come to Devil's Gulch Ranch eager to interact with animals in a summer camp environment. Then these animals are killed, their flesh sold to local restaurants and, in the case of the rabbits, their fur used for camp crafts. Imagine the impression this has on a child, who regarded a sensitive bunny as a playful friend one moment, and then was left only with his skin the next.
The Marin Wine auction is supposed to support worthy causes, including the Marin Art and Garden Center and the St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin County. But supporting a facility for teaching children to kill hardly seems worthy.
Because they are not covered under the federal Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, rabbits killed at Devil's Gulch Ranch may suffer the most terrifying deaths imaginable; indeed, rabbits may be fully conscious while being slaughtered.
Animal-killing courses taught by FFA, 4H and Devil's Gulch Ranch are of special concern today, when educators and school administrators cite campus violence as a paramount concern. Indeed, according to a fact sheet from the Humane Society of the United States, "Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology during the last 25 years have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty."
What message are we giving kids when we encourage them to care for a helpless being and then slaughter the animal? How can we possibly teach these same children that violence is wrong?
Please contact the Keiretsu Forum, the "angel investment" corporation hosting the auction, and let them know you don't believe teaching children violence is appropriate for a charitable event. The auction begins this Saturday, so please contact them today--- even if you do not live in the area, please speak up for the animals!
Elizabeth May
Event Director, Marin Wine Auction
elizabeth@keiretsuforum.com
Tel: (415) 244-9890
Tom Dowd
Chair, Keiretsu Forum Charitable Foundation
tom@dowdandguild.com
Additional Sponsors include:
Marin Art and Garden Center
30 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
Ross, CA 94957
First Republic Bank
Headquarters Office
First Republic Bank 111 Pine Street at Front San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 392-1400 (800) 392-1400 (toll free) (415) 392-1413(fax)
Bottlenotes.com
1-866-239-8185
California Closets
Customer Service is California Closets or call their headquarters at 866.312.8577.
Insalata's
120 Sir Francis Drake Blvd.
San Anselmo, CA 94960
415 457-7700
Fax:415-457-8375
E-Mail:Insalata's
Marin Independant Journal
Editorial page: Brad Breithaupt: 415-382-7291.
Arts and Entertainment Listings/Calendar of Events: Katie Watts; 415-382-7282.
Porthos Wine
Porthos can be reached by any of the following means:
Email: Porthos Web Site
Phone: 1.866.PORTHOS, 415.454.2115
Fax: 415.454.1548
Postal Mail: Porthos, Inc., The Vineyard, 4326 Redwood Hwy #300 San Rafael, CA 94903
St John's Capital
St John Capital
Add. St. John's Capital Group
1630 Oakland Rd, #A105,
San Jose, CA 95131, USA
Tel. 408-437-6262
Fax. 408-273-6780
Extranomical Tours
Puroast Coffee
Puroast Coffee Inc
P.O. Box 1291
Woodland, CA
95776
Fupa.com
ENCOURAGE KINDNESS AND COMPASSION---NOT KILLING, FOR MARIN KIDS!
Every year in California, dogs, cats, birds, reptiles, amphibians are sold at flea markets, swap meets and on the side of the road. These animals suffer from health problems and are often housed in overcrowded, unsanitary conditions.
The animals are generally purchased on impulse by people who are not educated on how to properly care for their new companion animal.
Selling animals in flea markets, swap meets and alongside the road needs to stop. Animals are suffering and dying because sellers care more about money than the overall health and welfare of the animals.
There is a bill before the California legislature that would end the cruel practice of selling animals at flea markets and swap meets.
How You Can Help:
AB 1122, authored by Assemblymember Ted Lieu, will prohibit the sale of animals on street corners and flea markets. The hearing is on April 21st, next Tuesday, and your voice is urgently needed. Please take a moment to call or email your state Assemblymember and urge him or her to SUPPORT AB 1122. The animals are counting on you. A sample letter is below.
If you don't know the name of your state Assemblymember, there are two ways to find it:
1. Visit http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html and enter your ZIP code and press "search.” You will be given the name and contact information of your Assemblymember.
2. Call the California Government Information Hotline at 916-322-9900. Give the operator your address - the operator will tell you the name of your Assemblymember. You can also leave your message for him/her through the operator.
Letters can be addressed to:
The Honorable [full name of Assemblymember]
State Capitol
Sacramento, CA 95814
Sample email/letter
Dear Assemblymember,
I am writing in strong support of AB 1122, which will address the sale of animals at swap meets, flea markets and on street corners.
Dogs, cats and other companion animals are being sold at flea markets and swap meets in terrible conditions. These companion animals often are kept in overcrowded pens or cages that are unsanitary, without food and/or water, in extreme heat and direct sunlight. They are handled by shoppers and purchased on impulse.
In addition, puppies and other animals are being sold along roadsides. There are instances where the animals are sold, only to die of illness a few days later -- illness that could have been prevented if the animals had received proper care from those breeding them for profit.
An online retailer, JunglePup.com, is selling dehydrated rabbit ears as a chew toy for dogs. The listing reads: "Our dehydrated rabbit ears are a great, high protein snack for your dog. Perfect for raw feeders or as a supplement to your dog's diet, these natural treats come from a small, family-run farm. Raised with plenty of fresh air and sunshine, the rabbits are fed an alfalfa-based pellet and are housed in a cage-free colony setting. Hormone-free and antibiotic-free. Size: Approximately 15 rabbit ears per package."
JunglePup.com is operated by the Jungle Doggy Company. Their mission statement reads: "We are committed to helping pets worldwide in any way that we can. By helping pets and their people find the best prices on the internet for all pet supply needs, we hope to save families money, so that our furry friends can have all of the wonderful things they love and enjoy. Also, through ongoing support of charitable organizations who share a common goal, we hope to make a difference for pets and their people around the world. We are committed to pets. Period."
Please remind Jungle Doggy that rabbits are pets, too. If they are truly committed to pets, they should stop selling the ears of rabbits, the third most popular companion animals in the US, UK and elsewhere.
Ironically, the Jungle Doggy site features ads for such animal advocacy groups as The Humane Society of the United States, ASPCA and the World Wildlife Foundation.
What You Can Do:
1. Post your comments directly on the product page: http://junglepup.com/Dehydrated-Rabbit-Ears/A/B000NI988Y.htm
2. Contact Jungle Doggy and express your feelings about the company exploiting rabbits. You can email them at doghouse@jungledoggy.com.
3. It isn’t terribly surprising that JunglePup.com is an online storefront powered by Amazon.com. As many animal advocates are aware, Amazon has been criticized for selling animal-fighting magazines and for selling animal fur, including rabbit fur. It couldn’t hurt to direct your displeasure to Amazon as well: (800) 201-7575.
The Christmas 2008 LL Bean catalog features an illustration of a winter wonderland with rabbits in the snow. However, on page 21 they offer "Mad Bomber" hats made with rabbit fur. The catalog describes these items as "Our warmest hat and a customer favorite for years. Shell is fully insulated and trimmed with plush rabbit fur. Wear it with earflaps up or pull them down for added warmth..."
We know that LL Bean has selling this cruel hat for years, but perhaps with your help, this year we can get them to look for alternative options.
If you're an LL Bean customer or on their mailing list, please ask them to remove your name as a customer or from their list -- and tell them why! Remind them that these rabbits suffer horribly in factory farms and are killed brutally. Tell them you will no longer shop at LL Bean as long as they are selling real fur and that equally warm gloves and hats can be sold that are cruelty-free. Ask them to join progressive fur-free retailers such as Gap, Banana Republic, American Eagle, Aeropostale, H&M, Forever 21, J. Crew, and others. They also need to know that fur-bearing animals are not covered under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Ranch-raised animals are electrocuted through their genitals, poisoned with pesticides or asphyxiated with carbon monoxide from unfiltered engine exhaust. Those who don't die swiftly are skinned alive.
Please contact Carolyn Beem, Public Affairs Manager for LL Bean, at publicaffairs@llbean.com.
A disturbing new undercover expose of rabbit fur farms on two different continents shows that rabbit slaughter, no matter why or where it occurs, is always cruel. The video, narrated by actress Gillian Anderson, shows rabbits kicking and screaming during slaughter. After the skin is ripped from the rabbits' bodies, it is sold to designers such as Giorgio Armani -- who uses rabbit fur in his new designs.
The undercover investigations of rabbit fur farms in China and France -- two countries from which Armani buys rabbit fur -- revealed pitiful living conditions for rabbits, who are confined to tiny wire cages before they are slaughtered.
In the video footage from the investigation, workers at the Chinese farm pull rabbits out of cages by their ears and shoot the screaming animals in the head with a handheld electrical device, often multiple times. Rabbits with slit throats can be seen twitching and shaking, with their eyes wide open, before they die.
Armani now sells fur, including rabbit-fur coats for babies and children. The new designs mean he has broken the promise he made just last year when he said, "I spoke with the people from PETA, and they showed me some materials that convinced me not to use fur."
Please contact Giorgio Armani and urge him to keep the promise that he made by permanently removing all fur from his collections.
Please also send polite comments to:
Giorgio Armani Corporation
114 Fifth Ave., 17th Fl.
New York, NY 10011
212-366-9720
Tipped off by a distraught former University of California, Irvine (UCI) student, PETA has learned that the university conducts highly invasive in-class experiments on frogs and rats. The frogs are pithed, which involves piercing the brain and spinal cord with a sharp instrument and moving the instrument around to damage the brain. Then their hearts are removed, and the students remove the frogs' sciatic nerves so that they can run electricity through them.
Rats face an even worse fate. Students drill into the heads of healthy rats, drop in poison and staple the wound shut to create a crude simulation of Parkinson's disease. After giving the rats two weeks to recover, the students poke the rats with blunt sticks to gauge how much brain damage the rats have suffered. The rats are killed at the end of the experiment.
PETA has already contacted UCI about these experiments and suggested ways that the school could transition to a humane curriculum. Now, we are calling on you to help end these cruel classroom experiments. Please contact Michael V. Drake, chancellor of UCI, and politely ask him to end these experiments and implement humane, non-animal teaching methods in the university's science courses.
University of California, Irvine
The Chancellor's Office
Irvine, CA 92697-1900
chancellor@uci.edu
949-824-5111
Similar to the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 311), a new bill has been introduced by the Chairman of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee to put a stop to this brutal practice. The Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act of 2008 (H.R. 6598) would both end the slaughter of American horses for human consumption and prevent their export for slaughter in other countries.
Please call to urge your Representative to become support H.R. 6598. You can reach your U.S. Representative by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or visit https://community.hsus.org/humane/leg-lookup/search.html to find their Capitol office phone numbers.
Reprint of article from the Sonoma Press Democrat newspaper on rabbit farming.
Chickens considered colorful when they roamed the Sonoma Plaza until visitors started getting pecked, may be the center of controversy once again with a proposal that encourages poultry and rabbit keeping in residential neighborhoods.
The City Council will get its first look Wednesday night at an ordinance that would allow even the smallest residence in Sonoma to have 16 chickens and eight rabbits, and owners of large lots to have up to 200 chickens, roosters and rabbits.
"We do see throughout the nation this movement for locally produced food," said Linda Kelly, Sonoma's city manager. "This is a small way for the city to make it less onerous for people who want to produce their own eggs and to keep hens and rabbits."
Raising rabbits and poultry are a step toward self-sufficiency and provide healthier meat and eggs, proponents contend.
"Every single person should keep chickens," said Bob Cannard, a former city councilman who has had chickens for nearly 40 years. "If everybody kept three chickens for every person in the household, we would change the nature of this country."
Some Sonoma officials, however, are expressing a cautionary tone. Sonoma is no longer a rural city; noise, odors and insects could accompany backyard barnyards and there are questions of who will enforce the codes and resolve complaints.
"I don't know the noise level of 16 hens or one rooster. I don't know the health effects if there will be flies and other insects," said Councilman Stanley Cohen. "Does that person coming from San Francisco or another state want to have these animals next door? And then do I have to go to my police department to enforce the code, and how much time is that going to take?"
The proposal will be presented to the City Council at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Community Meeting Room, 177 First St. W.
It's not the first time chickens have become the center of controversy in Sonoma. Chickens once wandered the city plaza, but were banned after incidents of aggressiveness.
"They were colorful, a little bit of residual agricultural texture," said Mayor Joanne Sanders. "There were some problems. I don't know if the kids were chasing them or they were chasing the kids, but we don't want kids hurt."
The ordinance was proposed by Sanders, who said it is a way for people to eat healthier and for the city to help reduce its carbon footprint.
"We are not talking about commercial endeavors in backyards, but being able to have your own homegrown eggs. And it seems in keeping with some of the goals we have established in society," Sanders said.
Under the proposal, any home can have 16 chickens and eight rabbits in the back yard, with a setback for henhouses and pens of five feet from the fence.
For lot sizes of over 10,000 square feet, the proposal allows for a flock of 200 chickens and roosters and for 200 rabbits.
The proposal also requires an enclosed henhouse or pen, and wire enclosures with tops, standards for cleanliness and a provision that slaughtering be done humanely and only for home consumption.
It requires a permit, costing $123, and an inspection of the enclosures.
The current code prohibits chickens and rabbits on parcels smaller than 10,000 square feet. For larger parcels, it prohibits chickens or rabbits within 50, 75 or 100 feet of any house, depending on the number of animals and whether roosters are present.
Councilman Ken Brown said that if a new code is adopted, he is proposing that it be reviewed in six months.
"The issues are noise, smell, and people have different levels of ability to care for animals. They have rights as well," Brown said.
The city of Helsinki plans to begin culling its rapidly-exploding feral rabbit population this autumn.
Permits to kill them will be issued to hunting associations. Helsinki University plans to use the carcasses for research.
There are an estimated 7,000 feral rabbits in the city, most of them descendents of escaped pets. City officials say they cause hundreds of thousands of euros worth of damage to city structures and flora annually.
They hope to get rid of at least several hundred of the non-native animals, which have spread quickly over the past two decades.
Mild Winters Favour Aliens
"There have often been small rabbit populations in Finland, apparently domesticated animals that have become feral," says Dr Heidi Kinnunen, a zoologist at Helsinki University. "But usually these populations have remained small and died out over the winters. What has happened now in Helsinki is exceptional: the first permanent rabbit population in Finland."
Apparently, milder winters have made it possible for the invasive species to survive year-round.
University researchers plan to study levels of heavy metals in the animals' organs among other tests.
The creators of the extraordinary film "The Witness" have launched a new web site to counter the meat industry’s efforts to promote “humanely raised meat.” Visit HumaneMyth.org to see the overwhelming evidence that animals suffer when they are raised and killed for food. This is an impressive and comprehensive web site, and it can help us respond wisely to people who claim that they only eat “humanely raised meat.” HumaneMyth.org is dedicated to truth, transparency, and integrity in Animal Advocacy.
An ambitious program announced in February by a coalition of government agencies could lead to the end of animal testing to evaluate the safety of new chemicals and drugs.
Three agencies — the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Toxicology Program and the National Institutes of Health — have signed a "Memorandum of Understanding" to begin developing the new methods. The collaboration is described in a paper in Thursday's edition of the journal Science.
The agreement is a "milestone" says Martin Stephens of the Humane Society of the United States. "We believe this is the beginning of the end for animal testing. We think the (conversion) process will take about 10 years."
The agencies acknowledge that full implementation of the shift in toxicity testing could take years because it will require scientific validation of the new approaches.
Using human cells grown in test tubes and computer-driven testing machines, the scientists will eventually examine potentially toxic compounds in the lab rather than injecting them into mice, rats and rabbits and waiting to see if the animals die.
The EPA has already begun evaluating 300 chemicals using the new methods. The first phase should be finished this year, says Robert Kavlok, director of the National Center for Computational Toxicology.
Thousands of chemicals can be tested at one time in this way, a great advance over slow, expensive animal testing. It's done in a 3-by-5-inch glass tray with 1,536 tiny wells, each a fraction of a millimeter across, says Christopher Austin, director of NIH's Chemical Genomics Center.
A few hundred human cells grown in a test tube go into each well. Then, guided by a computer, the testing machine drips a different chemical into each well. After some time has passed, the machine shines a laser through each well to see how many cells remain. A computer analyzes the toxicity of each compound based on how the cells react.
For comparison, it's taken the EPA 30 years to rigorously test 2,500 potentially toxic compounds, says Elias Zerhouni, director of the National Institutes of Health.
All the data produced will be put into a public database. "We think it is very important for the entire public worldwide to have access to these very precious experimental results," says Kavlock.
It's the fruit of work begun in 2005 by EPA and the National Toxicological Program to speed up toxicological testing. That resulted in a report by the National Research Council last year laying out how it might be done.
To convert from animal to lab testing, the federal agencies will start with compounds previously tested on animals to confirm that the cell-based tests are accurate, says Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.
This won't mean that animal testing will disappear overnight, but it signals the beginning of the end, says Zerhouni.
Advocacy group filing formal cruelty complaint with authorities today
SAN FRANCISCO, CA (April 11, 2006) – East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) released details this week of its three-month investigation into conditions at a rabbit-processing plant in Northern California. The investigation sheds light on one of the meat industry’s best-kept secrets and will introduce many consumers to the abuses suffered by what is perhaps the only species Westerners routinely regard as both a companion animal and a meal.
From February to April 2006, EBAA documented conditions at the Cloverdale Rabbit Company, California's second-largest commercial rabbit-meat slaughterhouse. EBAA investigators discovered high stocking densities of cages, unsanitary living conditions and sick rabbits denied veterinary care. This project marks the first time an animal welfare organization has investigated the rabbit-meat industry in the United States.
Today, EBAA is filing a formal cruelty complaint with the San Benito County authorities for further investigation of the Cloverdale Rabbit Company. In addition to denying rabbits proper healthcare while they are kept at their facility, the Cloverdale Rabbit Company is in violation of Section 597t of the California State Penal Code, which requires that confined animals have adequate exercise space.
Each year more than 8 million rabbits are raised and slaughtered for their meat by approximately 200,000 producers across the country. Known primarily as a cottage industry, American rabbit-meat production is largely unregulated by the federal, state and local authorities and removed from the public eye. The United States Department of Agriculture groups rabbits together with poultry for inspection purposes. Like poultry, meat rabbits are denied legal protection by the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act.
EBAA has set up a special Web site dedicated to its investigation of the rabbit-meat industry and outlining steps the public can take to help improve the lives of these abused animals. Visitors can log onto www.rabbitproduction.com for details.
Video footage available for the media.
East Bay Animal Advocates is a non-profit organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. California is home to one of the most industrious and concentrated animal agriculture areas in the world. Exposing animal cruelty in modern agriculture is of utmost importance to East Bay Animal Advocates. Through direct aid and education outreach, East Bay Animal Advocates is dedicated to fighting and preventing animal abuse in California's agricultural industry. EBAA’s Web site is www.eastbayanimaladvocates.org.
The U.S. House of Representatives is considering legislation, H.R. 4904, the Truth in Fur Labeling Act of 2006, which would close a loophole that allows garments featuring fur valued at less than $150 to be sold without identifying it as animal fur or specifying the species of animal or country of origin. Without proper labeling, consumers can't always tell if an item contains real fur or faux fur -- and today's processing techniques make it nearly impossible for consumers to tell the difference.
That's why a simple, honest label is so important. By requiring a label, H.R. 4904 will allow consumers to make educated choices about whether or not to wear fur.
Please make a quick, polite phone call to your U.S. Representative and urge him or her to support and co-sponsor H.R. 4904. You can reach your Representative by calling the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121, or visit https://community.hsus.org/humane/leg-lookup/search.html to find your Representative's office phone number.
Each year, more than nine billion chickens, turkeys, other birds and rabbits are slaughtered without the protection of the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act, simply because the U.S. Department of Agriculture doesn't recognize these animals as "livestock."
Recently, The Humane Society of the United States, along with East Bay Animal Advocates and five poultry consumers, filed suit challenging the USDA's exemption of poultry slaughter from the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. Please join us in urging the USDA to reverse this arbitrary policy. Tell Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns to fulfill his responsibility to ensure that all animals, including rabbits and birds, are treated humanely.
The Honorable Michael O. Johanns
Secretary of Agriculture
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Jamie L. Whitten Federal Building
12th Street and Jefferson Drive S.W., Rm. 200-A
Washington, DC 20250
agsec@usda.gov
202-720-3631
202-720-2166 (fax)
Natural Pet Market, which sells all-natural dog and cat food, is now selling raw rabbit meat. They also sell rabbit ears as chew treats. Jan Rebmann of the Chicago HRS is asking people to contact the retailer and express their disgust.
The email contact is: info@naturalpetmarket.com
If you want to mail letters for more impact, their address is:
Natural Pet Market
263 Rice Lake Square
Wheaton, IL 60187
Jan writes:
Also, if you email a letter, please cc: or blind copy me at hrsjan@aol.com so that I can print them out and collect them to take to [Natural Pet Market] when I get enough of them. I just want to show her that it's not worth it.
THANK YOU!!
Jan Rebmann
Educator /Fosterer
Chicago House Rabbit Society
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