Preparing for disaster before it strikes can benefit you and your companion animals in emergency situations.

We’ve seen the pictures on the news of the devastating fires in the western part of the United States. We all saw pictures of the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina. While we humans may be terrified at the thought of a natural disaster, we usually have some time to prepare before we might have to evacuate. Our companion animals are at a total loss as to what is going on around them. Sadly, in some instances, they are abandoned to cope on their own while their humans are sent to locations that do not allow animals. In other cases, they wind up living in cars or boats for days with their guardians who are wondering where the next safe harbor is.

Before disaster strikes, prepare yourself and your companion animals…just in case. Know what shelters allow you and your animal to find a safe haven during an evacuation. If there aren’t any in your immediate area, find out what hotels/motels accept pets. If you haven’t travelled much with your companion animals, here are some tips.

Pack emergency kits for each of your animals—medical records, photos (in case you are separated), medicines, first aid kit, food, water, bowls, litter, leashes, carriers, etc. In other words, whatever your companion animal will need while away from home. Do the same for yourself and your family members as well. Make sure your animals are wearing identification tags.

Because, when you think about it…no matter where we are, disaster can strike. Are you and your companion animals ready?

The Spay/Neuter Assistance Fund bill will help control pet overpopulation in states such as West Virginia.

Paws Up!
To the West Virginia legislature for enacting and Governor Tomblin for signing into law SB 202, the Spay/Neuter Assistance Fund bill.

With more cats and dogs being born in West Virginia than can be adopted, the West Virginia legislature has decided to do something about spay/neuter on a statewide scale. The Spay/Neuter Assistance bill will help fund these vital surgeries to reduce the number of unwanted companion animals entering shelters, being left to succumb in the wild, or abandoned on other people’s property.

West Virginia joins several other states in recognizing the need to help relieve shelters and animal control agencies in the state with the burden of housing unwanted puppies and kittens.

Take Action: West Virginia residents, thank your legislators and governor for helping reduce the number of unwanted companion animals in the state. Residents of other states, contact your legislators to see if such an assistance program is needed where you live.

Virginia, Georgia, and Texas are supporting an event this year called Running with the Bulls, which is meant to mimic the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain.

Paws Down!
To three arenas hosting running with the bulls spectacles this year.

An organization called Running with the Bulls is sponsoring three events this year in three states: Virginia, Georgia, and Texas.

These events are meant to mimic the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain. However, just as in Pamplona, the bulls have no say in the matter. They are treated as spectacle rather than as living, breathing, sentient beings who belong almost any place other than an arena with a group of people sprinting ahead of them.

While some may say running with the bulls is tradition, it was never tradition in Virginia, Georgia, or Texas. As with many traditions, however, it should be put to rest in all other areas of the world.

Take Action: The best action any of us can take is to refuse to support organizations and venues that host animal-related entertainment by not attending these events and not even watching them on television. For our readers in the three states where these events will take place, please take time to write to the managers of each venue and express your displeasure at their booking such a frivolous event.

General Manager Bryan Pierce, General Manager
Virginia Motorsports Park
8018 Boydton Plank Rd.
Petersburg, VA 23803
Tele. No.: 804-862-3174
E-mail: bryanp@virginiamotorsports.com

General Manager
Georgia International Horse Park
1996 Centennial Olympic Parkway
Conyers, Georgia 30013
770-860-4190

Fern Davis, Sales Director
Royal Purple Raceway
2525 S Farm to Market Road 565
Baytown, TX 77521
Tele. No.: 281-383-7223
E-mail: fdavis@royalpurpleraceway.com

West Virginia has recently passed SB 437, a bill that will ensure proper standards of care for dogs in commercial breeding facilities.

Paws Up!
To the West Virginia State legislature for enacting and Governor Tomblin for signing into law SB 437, the puppy mill bill.

West Virginia has joined with a number of other states that want to ensure safe, healthy standards of care for dogs living in commercial breeding establishments often referred to as puppy mills.

According to a bill recently signed by the governor, a “‘Commercial dog breeder’ means any person who (A) Maintains eleven or more unsterilized dogs over the age of one year; (B) Is engaged in the business of breeding dogs as household pets for direct or indirect sale or for exchange in return for consideration;”

Take Action: West Virginia residents, please thank your legislators and governor for protecting dogs in commercial breeding operations in West Virginia. Residents of other states, if you do not have laws protecting dogs in commercial breeding facilities, please contact your legislators and urge them to introduce legislation today.

We are crossing our fingers that every horse in today’s big races at Churchill Downs crosses the finish line safely.

Why do we race animals? What is the thrill for us? For them? When we bet on the animals, sometimes we lose our proverbial shirt; sometimes we win a few dollars, sometimes many dollars. But who are the real winners/losers? Regardless of the outcome of the race, the animals always lose. They lose because they are being asked to do abnormal and unnatural feats of endurance and strength. They lose because so many have to be born in order to get one champion. Those who don’t make it are often killed when quite young, sold to research laboratories, or relegated to live their lives in substandard conditions. They lose because when they are too old to race or have an injury, it is often more expedient for the owner to shoot the animal in the head or pass him or her off to a roadside zoo or circus than make a lifetime commitment to the animal. The winners: there are none. When we engage in racing animals or betting on animal racing or even watching animal races, we lose, too. We lose a bit of our humanity, our compassion toward the animals forced to race. So, when you think about it…no one wins in the animal racing industry.

Changing the way animals look causes unnecessary suffering and serves no purpose for them.

Why do we have to change the original design of animals? Why should cats and dogs have flat faces, no tails, sloping backs, and other useless aberrations of the original design? Why do we have to alter nature? Is it because we can? Should we? Some alterations seem somewhat harmless and in many ways quite humorous. For example, did you know that male dogs whose owners have an issue with neutering their companion, can have Neuticles implanted to make the dog look more “manly”?

Other alterations aren’t as humorous. In South Korea several years ago, researchers cloned one puppy from hundreds of harvested eggs. Why? Just because they could? And then there are the scientists who want to bring back the stone age, or its equivalent, by trying to clone extinct species. Where would those species live since their habitat most likely no longer exists—and maybe that’s the reason they went extinct in the first place?

Who are we to alter some species so that they become unrecognizable from the original? What other anomalies of nature will we be creating in the not too distant future? Accepting animals as they are and realizing that those who are gone, are gone for good—whether a beloved companion animal or a wild species—gives us more time and freedom to enjoy the animals who are here, in our midst, every day.
Changing them says more about us than it does about them. So, when you think about it…why do we do it?

The National Endowment for the Oceans Act would protect our marine ecosystems that are threatened by over-fishing and pollution.

The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation has before it S 646, the National Endowment for the Oceans Act. Protection of our nation’s oceans, coastal areas, and Great Lakes ecosystems is imperative to the overall health of both the environment and the creatures who inhabit these areas. According to the November 2006 issue of Science, a report by an international team of scientists studying a vast amount of data gathered between 1950 and 2003 declared that if current trends of fishing and pollution continue, every fishery in the world’s oceans will collapse by 2048. What we don’t protect today may not be with us tomorrow.

Contact your senators and ask them to support this important piece of legislation when it comes to the Senate floor for a vote. You can also contact the committee and urge its members to support the bill and bring it to a vote this legislative session.

Under HR 1187, certain National Forest System and public lands will have designated protections with the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act.

Whenever we can preserve wilderness and wild and scenic rivers, we protect nature and the inhabitants of an area. The House Committee on Natural Resources has before it HR 1187, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. This vital piece of legislation will designate protection for certain National Forest System lands and public lands in several Western states now under the jurisdiction of the secretary of the Interior.

Protecting wilderness areas in this country is critical to the preservation of a natural environment and the many species who inhabit that environment. Therefore, contact your representative and ask that he or she support this bill when it comes to the floor of the House for a vote. You can also contact the committee and urge the bill be reported out to the full House for a vote this legislative session.

The British government has moved forward in banning the use of wild animals from circuses in England.

Paws Up!
To The British government for banning wild animals from circuses in England.

According to a news story, circuses in England will be banned from using wild animals. “British Veterinary Association president Peter Jones added: ‘There is no place in today’s society for wild animals to be used for our entertainment and we are absolutely delighted.’”

Circuses often mean suffering, pain, fear, and degradation for the animals who are forced to perform day after day. While life may be hard for the humans who choose to work in the circus, life is inhumane for the nonhuman animals who have no choice.

Circuses do not serve to educate people about the animal world or its habitats; nor do they protect endangered species or strive to instill in the general public an increased appreciation and compassion for animals. Circuses fail to provide captive animals with a humane standard of care that requires the creation of natural habitats, ample area for exercise and socialization, appropriate diets, and suitable climatic controls. Further, some circuses use abusive training techniques including whips, chains, clubs, and electric shock to force animals to perform out of fear of punishment.

Instead of supporting circuses that use and abuse animals, why not support those circuses that celebrate the human being and his or her daring feats?

Take Action: Congratulate the prime minister of England for his country’s forward thinking about protecting wild animals from a life of degradation and death in the circus.

David Cameron
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
10 Downing Street
London
SW1A 2AA
England

Paws Down!
To the Tennessee legislature for passing one.

“Ag-gag” laws are being considered in many states in order to provide protection for those that commit inhumane acts upon factory-farmed animals.

“Ag-gag” laws are being considered in many states. These laws are meant to interfere with undercover investigations of factory farms. They end up protecting employers and employees of factory farms who are abusing the animals in their care. These laws also destroy freedom of speech and the public’s right to know what happens to animals raised and slaughtered for food.

According to a news story, the author of California’s ag-gag bill (AB 343) withdrew the bill. However Tennessee passed such a bill in both houses and has sent it to the governor for signature.

Take Action: Tennessee residents, contact your governor and urge him not to sign the Livestock Cruelty Prevention Act (HB 1191/SB 1248).
California residents, let your legislators know you are not in favor of any bill that interferes with the pursuit of truth in the factory farm industry.