Activists Sue to Stop illing of Pacific Northwest Sea Lions

By Teresa Carson

United States - Wildlife activists sued on Monday to stop the killing of sea lions that have been eating endangered Columbia River salmon, seeking a reprieve for the animals a day before three Pacific Northwest states are authorized to begin executing them.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., follows last week's decision by the National Marine Fisheries Service to sanction the limited killing of California sea lions.

The Humane Society of the United States, Wild Fish Conservancy and two individual plaintiffs are seeking an injunction barring the authorization from taking effect on Tuesday.

The hungry sea lions swim 140 miles upstream and cluster at the Bonneville Dam, on the border between Oregon and Washington state, to eat salmon and steelhead trout as the fish head up the Columbia River to spawn. That is seen by the states as a threat to the recovery of the fish.

But animal rights activists argue that the sea lions are unfairly blamed for low fish stocks and charge that fishing, hatchery practices, hydroelectric dam barriers, and environmental degradation pose a far greater risk.

"Federal law allows the killing of sea lions only in very limited circumstances, when the agency proves they are having a significant negative impact on salmon," Jonathan Lovvorn, Humane Society senior vice president, said in a written statement.

"The National Marine Fisheries Service's decision to kill hundreds of native marine mammals to reduce salmon losses by a couple of percentage points at best, while simultaneously authorizing much larger man-made sources of endangered salmon mortality, is both outrageous and patently illegal."

Brian Gorman, spokesman in the Seattle office of the National Marine Fisheries Service, called the legal challenge "not unexpected."

"Now, it is up to the court to respond," Gorman said.

Wildlife activists have battled the fisheries service in court for several years over the controversial practice of killing sea lions to protect stocks of Columbia River basin Chinook salmon.

The sea lions are guarded under the Marine Mammals Protection Act and the suit charges the fisheries service's order violates those laws.

Under Thursday's order, the states can kill only sea lions known to have eaten salmon and are limited to 92 animals per year.

The sea lions can be killed only if zoos or aquariums don't want them. Since 2008, the states have killed 28 sea lions and 10 have been sent to zoos or aquariums.

The Federal permission was set to run from March 20 to May of 2016.

The Bonneville Dam is the first hydroelectric dam on the Columbia River, which divides Washington and Oregon.

Earthlings

Why Does the FBI Treat Videotaping Corporate Animal Abuse As Terrorism?

By Noel Brinkerhoff

 

Activists who expose animal abuses on factory farms face the risk of being prosecuted as domestic terrorists.

 

Using the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA), which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in November 2006, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has kept files on animal rights activists who have recorded incidents of cruelty towards animals on large farming operations.  Now, though, a bureau task force has even recommended trying these individuals as terrorism suspects.

 

Activist Ryan Shapiro, who used the Freedom of Information Act to discover what the FBI was up to, told the Los Angeles Times that “it’s simply outrageous to consider civil disobedience as terrorism.”

 

“Civil disobedience” he added, “has a long and proud place in our nation’s history, from Martin Luther King to Occupy Wall Street, and the AETA takes that kind of advocacy that we celebrate from the civil rights movement and turns it into a terrorist event.”

 

The Center for Constitutional Rights has filed a lawsuit challenging the AETA as unconstitutional, claiming the law is too vague and is discouraging political activism.

Ireland Takes Steps Against Puppy Mills

Ireland - After years of campaigning by animal rights groups the country has decided to make a step forward and stop unsanitary puppy mills.

Formerly known as the Puppy Farm of Europe, the country passed two laws known as the Dog Breeding Establishment Act and the Welfare of Greyhounds Act.

The legislation doesn't shut down all puppy mills, just the ones that are unregistered or have the dogs produced in horrible conditions not fit for a rat much less any animal bigger than one.  Veterinarians near puppy mills are required to inspect all of the ones currently in operation and if they find a place where the sanitary conditions are not met they are able to immediately shut down the kennels.

Breeders must also have all of their dogs microchipped so if the authorities trace the dog back to whoever bred them and prosecute them if needed.

The NDAA and SOPA Will Turn Us Into the Maldives

This is likely the future if the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and the Stop Online PiracyAct (SOPA) were to be used together.

Blogger Ismail Kilath “Hilath” Rasheed's blog was shut down based on the accusation it contained material that was determined to be anti-Islamic. He was then thrown in jail for taking part in a demonstration in favor of religious tolerance for four weeks.  His blog is still offline, probably permanently, and Reporters Without Borders has called it "A threat to the Maldives' young democracy."

All it took for Rasheed's blog to be shut down and Rasheed himself to be thrown in jail for a month was criticizing religion.  What do you think this kind of thing, now an actual nightmare thanks to the NDAA and SOPA have been passed, will mean for American citizens? Anyone who still thinks the American people are protected thanks to the Constitution doesn't seem to know that right was lost at the end of last year thanks to President Obama signing the NDAA.

To say that what Rasheed's going through is the same as what Americans may suffer is laughable.  American citizens haven't yet been driven so far to the right that they are willing to kill mass amounts of people for religious or political reasons - yet at least - but they are willing to let two laws that can be used to censor people either virtually or physically go by without a second glance or a mass uprising.  If this was any other country the United States would be ready to declare sanctions against the government responsible for it.  However on its own soil this kind of bill passes without a peep from almost anyone short of alternative media and blogs.

Currently there are several ways one could wind up being a victim of this legislation and you barely need to do anything.  First is the law in several states that if you cause "economic damage" to a company you could be considered a terrorist.  This one is pointed toward, but not exclusively, animal rights activists who reveal the horrid conditions animals face in factory farms.  Another is if you release something the government or military doesn't want to be known, such as the case with Bradley Manning.  The government didn't want the tape, known as "Collateral Murder" to get out to the public, especially the American people.  For leaking the information, which needed to be done, Manning faced a long time in jail and after horrific treatment at the hands of the military, is getting a trial at Fort Meade.  These are just some of the more famous cases of the government or those in the higher commands of power overstep their bounds when it comes to detention or censorship of ordinary citizens.  The longer the NDAA and SOPA last, the higher the chances for people to be abused.  All it takes is a matter of time.

Rasheed would probably love to live in this country at this moment and that's a sad thing considering we are blindly and proudly walking into the same kind of regime under which he is presently suppressed. 

McDonald's Drops Egg Suppliers Over Health Concerns

Chicago – McDonald's dropped an egg supplier after the Food and Drug Administration found it to have “filthy conditions and unacceptable rodent activity.” An animal rights group, Mercy for Animals, also exposed the inhumane treatment of the chickens.

After inspecting five egg facilities, in Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado, the FDA issued a warning to Sparboe Farms saying there were “serious violations” of a law put into place to prevent the spread of salmonella.

McDonald's vice president, Bob Langert, released a statement today saying the choice to let go of Sparboe Farms was out of “concern regarding the management of Sparboe's facilities.” Mercy for Animals was also a factor in the decision after the group released a tri-state three-month-long investigation of its farms.

“Wired with a pin-hole camera,” Mercy for Animals executive director Nathan Runkle said, the worker “documented repeated cases of animal abuse and neglect.”

The video, posted here on Youtube and here on their site, shows dead and live chickens in the same enclosure, chicks with broken beaks, talk of workers abusing the animals, and live chickens being discarded with dead ones in plastic bags.

Odd Stories: Man Punches Dog

Aliquippa, Pennsylvania – After trying to start a fight with his grandmother's 15-year-old dog, Nicholas Wooddell was arrested for cruelty to animals and disorderly conduct.

After he recently was asked to leave his grandmother's house, Wooddell appeared at the home banging on the door. After he entered the house he punched the dog for seemingly no reason and then left.

Commentary: Dog Survives Gas Chamber, News Misses Big Story

What I will never understand is why do we, as people, read so much into these kinds of stories.  I'm sure the other animals wanted and deserved to survive the gas chamber as well, probably moreso than Daniel.  Instead of acknowledging the beauty of each animal and embracing measures which would stop their needless deaths (like spaying and neutering, not getting an animal if you're not ready for it, stopping the sale of animals in puppy mills, etc.) we cast this great and holy light on the fact a dog lived through it.

The religious aspect of this story really unnerves me, especially this part:

"Linda Schiller, the shelter's founder and president, said the facility has already received about 100 applications from people around the country seeking to adopt Daniel. About half said they weren't interested in adopting another dog if the 20-pound Daniel wasn't available."

The fact so many people would not want a dog if they couldn't get Daniel is exactly why we kill animals.  Those 50 people could save a great amount of animals by adopting a dog or two instead of insisting on just Daniel.  Those people seem to be more interested in having a "miracle dog" than the plight of dogs and other pet animals in our country.