Hens Left Helpless

After a year of investigation, felony animal cruelty charges have been filed against the owners of A & L Poultry for the abandonment of 50,000 egg-laying hens.

In February 2012, 50,000 egg-laying hens were abandoned at A & L Poultry in Turlock, California. After a year of investigation, felony animal cruelty charges have been filed against the two owners, Andy Cheung and Lien Diep .

Please contact the Stanislaus County district attorney to express your desire to see that these hens’ lives mattered. Request the DA’s office to exact the maximum animal cruelty charges against the owners of A & L Poultry, Andy Cheung and Lien Diep, of Turlock, California, for allegedly abandoning 50,000 egg-laying hens. Further urge that if convicted, they be sentenced to the fullest extent of California law.

Birgit Fladager
District Attorney
Stanislaus County
832 12th Street, Suite 300
Modesto, California 95354
Tele. No.: 209-525-5550
Fax: 209-558-4027

Butterball Employees Convicted of Animal Cruelty

Paws Up!
To the North Carolina agencies that brought about the arrest and conviction of Butterball employees on a charge of animal cruelty.

Terry Johnson and Billy McBride were convicted last month of animal cruelty stemming from an undercover investigation into conditions at a North Carolina Butterball factory farm. Late last year, two other workers, Brian Douglas and Ruben Mendoza, were also convicted based on the same investigation.

Without undercover investigations such as the one that brought to light the criminal activity at this one plant, consumers would never know what is happening to the living, breathing, sentient animals suffering in factory farms.

Take Action: Please thank the agencies that, once confronted with reports of animal abuse, brought about the arrest and conviction of these individuals.

Employees at a North Carolina Butterball factory farm have been convicted of animal cruelty.

The Honorable Kristy Newton
District Attorney, Hoke County
Hoke County Annex Bldg.
PO Box 668
Raeford, NC 28763
Tele. No.: 910-878-4141
Fax: 910-878-4142

Sheriff Hubert A. Peterkin
Hoke County Sheriff’s Office
429 E Central Ave.
Raeford, N.C. 28376
Tele. No.: 910-875-5111
Fax: 910-875-2034

The Honorable John H. Horne, Jr.
North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts
P.O. Box 2448
Raleigh, NC 27602-2448
Tele. No.: 919-890-1000

Animal Abuse Registries

Implementing animal abuser registries could prevent further cruelties to both people and animals.

Several states have legislation pending that would create animal abuser registries similar to child abuser and sex offender registries. An animal abuser registry would list individuals convicted of felony animal abuse or who committed certain violent offenses against animals.

Intentional animal cruelty is of particular concern as it is a sign of psychological distress and often indicates an individual may be predisposed to committing acts of violence toward humans. Since animal abuse is often an early sign of potential human abuse, tracking animal abusers would help protect not only the animals of a community but also the people. Therefore, creating and maintaining a registry of individuals convicted of felony animal cruelty can be an asset in identifying potential criminal behavior.

Many studies in psychology, sociology, and criminology have demonstrated that violent offenders frequently have childhood and adolescent histories of serious and repeated animal cruelty. Additionally, mental health professionals and top law enforcement officials consider the blatant disregard for life and suffering evidenced by all forms of cruelty to animals to be an unquestionable warning sign. In fact, the American Psychiatric Association identifies cruelty to animals as one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders; and the FBI uses reports of animal cruelty in analyzing the threat potential of suspected and known criminals.

In addition, such registries could be valuable in tracking people who engage in illegal animal fighting, such as cockfighting and dog fighting; hoarders; and those who run puppy mills.

The following states have legislation pending:

Arizona – SB 1161
Connecticut – HB 5205
New York – S2305A
Hawaii – SB 0528
Oregon – HB 2394
Pennsylvania – HB 0265 and SB 0320
South Carolina – HB 3045
Vermont – S 0009
Virginia – HB 2242

NHES urges the citizens of these states to contact their legislators and encourage them to support a felony animal abuser registry in their state.

Related Posts:
Animal Abuser Registries, June 2012
Animal Abuser Registries, Feb 2012
Animal Abuser Registries, Jan 2011

When you think about it…animals need their own lawyers.

Lawyers can help protect animals in the court of law.

Animals are property. We know that. But they are a special class of property—property that needs to have special laws established to protect said property. Where will animals find lawyers willing to protect them? Today, animals have more and more people coming to their legal aid. There are over 140 animal classes being offered at law schools around the country and this number continues to grow.

Giving animals the protection they need both immediately and through legal channels is imperative to changing society’s approach to animal welfare and animal cruelty. What may have passed for proper treatment of animals decades ago is now considered substandard and in some instances may fit the definition of animal cruelty.

Along with what we now consider cruelty to animals is the ever growing awareness that people who hurt animals often escalate their aggression and begin attacking humans. Therefore, animal cruelty must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Unfortunately, many states don’t have laws in place to really make a change in the behavior of those who are cruel to animals. By having more legal expertise on the side of the animals, better and stronger animal cruelty laws will be passed in more and more jurisdictions. Because, when you think about it…every animal in need needs a lawyer.

When you think about it…everyone can help animals in need.

Protecting animals must be done by the community as a whole

A recent article highlights the need for citizens to be involved in stopping animal cruelty. A Dallas, Texas, based nonprofit, Safer Dallas Better Dallas, will fund the first year’s operation of an animal cruelty unit within the Dallas County district attorney’s office. This citizen’s organization realizes the importance of prosecuting those who commit cruel acts toward animals. As the article states, “There is extensive and well-documented research that confirms the strong connection between violence to people and violence to animals.”

Communities must get involved to fight animal cruelty. The lack of citizen involvement often leaves police and the judicial system at a loss to prosecute to the full extent of the law violations against animals. The abused animals do not have a voice, so the community must speak up for them and speak up loudly and persistently to protect them.

While few of us can understand the reason someone is cruel to animals, we can all understand that pain and suffering should not be dismissed just because the one in pain and suffering is a cat, dog, bird, horse, rabbit, goat, etc. When you think about it…what can you do to help animals in need?

Carriers Commit to Compassion

The more these carrier companies realize the harm that animals are subjected to during shipment, the more likely they are to change.

Paws Up!

To FedEx and UPS for their decisions to discontinue shipping specific species of animals destined for research laboratories.

According to a news article, FedEx and UPS have joined other carriers, including airlines, in declining to ship mammals and nonhuman primates destined for research laboratories. “For researchers who rely on lab animals shipped from distant sources, and for the companies that breed them, the options are narrowing again.”

Live animal transports are often thought of when we consider farmed animals being shipped to slaughter houses. But literally billions of animals are shipped around the world for any number of purposes—to appear in shows and other forms of entertainment, to be sent to zoos and aquariums, to wind up in research laboratories, and, of course, to be slaughtered.

The more the various transport companies realize the harm they are involved in by sending these animals to, in many cases, certain death, and in most other cases lives made miserable by their incarceration in cages, the more these companies will opt out of the live animal transport business and opt into the business of being compassionate carriers.

Take Action: Send a note of thanks to both FedEx and UPS for their decisions to opt out of shipping specific species of animals destined for research laboratories. Encourage them to opt out of shipping any live animals who will wind up in biomedical research laboratories.

Frederick W. Smith
Chairman, President, and CEO
FedEx Corporation
942 South Shady Grove Road
Memphis, TN 38119

D. Scott Davis, CEO
United Parcel Services, Inc.
55 Glenlake Parkway Northeast
Atlanta, GA 30328

 

Students Get a Choice

With all the teaching tools of modern technology, classroom dissection is not only cruel but unnecessary and outdated.

Paws Up!

To the District of Columbia for allowing students to opt out of classroom dissection on animals.

The Office of the Superintendent of Education issued a new policy allowing students to opt out of classroom dissection on animals.

According to the policy, “Although schools and teachers are free to use dissection as a part of their lesson plan, students who do not wish to dissect an animal for moral or religious reasons can be provided with an alternative lesson that accomplishes the same level of mastery. Alternatives to animal dissection may include web-based dissection, plastic or clay model dissection, videos/films, books, transparencies and any other activities crafted by educators that address the same standard(s).”

While no one will deny that science classes are important for our students, do our animals have to attend school, too? Science classes that dissect or otherwise use animals may be teaching important critical problem solving skills; yet, at the same time, they may be inadvertently teaching a lack of reverence and respect for all life. Because they dissect animals in school laboratories, some students may be learning that nonhuman animals are nothing more than tools to advance their knowledge. Is that what we want our science classes teaching our children?

Take Action: Residents of the District of Columbia, send a thank-you note to the superintendent supporting her decision to issue this policy. Residents of other jurisdictions, if your state does not have a student-choice policy, please contact your state superintendent of education and urge your state follow Washington, DC, in issuing one.

Hosanna Mahaley Jones
State Superintendent
Office of the State Superintendent
of the District of Columbia
810 1st Street NE, 9th Floor
Washington, DC 20002

 

Animal Cruelty Costs Company

Paws Up!
To the U.S. Department of Agriculture for fining Triple F Farms, a ferret farm in Pennsylvania, $44,000.

According to a news story, “A large Pennsylvania ferret farm that supplies animals to the Centers for Disease Control as well as pet retailers, has been fined $44,000 by the federal government for violating animal welfare and labor laws.

Ferrets and other small animals deserve our protection.

“The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) fined Triple F Farms, Inc., in Sayre, $16,679 for violating at least eight regulations of the Animal Welfare Act, and the factory must pay employees $28,124.98 in back wages for 38 violations of the Fair Labor Standards Act….”

Take Action: Send USDA a note of thanks for the actions taken in this case and urge them to continue to protect the animals of this country.

Dr. Gregory Parham
Administrator
Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
United States Department of Agriculture
USDA/APHIS/AC
4700 River Road, Unit 84
Riverdale, MD 20737-1234
Tele. No.: 301-734-7833
E-mail: ace@aphis.usda.gov

Read our initial post on this issue.

Massachusetts Protects Companion Animals

Federal and state-level animal protection laws still leave much to be desired. Every step forward is a victory for the animals that need our help.

Paws Up!
To the state of Massachusetts for enacting a strong animal protection law.

The state of Massachusetts enacted legislation that revamps the state’s animal cruelty laws, some of which have been on the books since the 1800s. According to a news article, the law will require “animal control officers to be certified and trained in their field.” It will allow “people seeking restraining orders to list their pets, allowing their pets to be taken with them.”

The law also allows for “the creation of a state-wide fund for donations to a spay/neuter program for homeless pets.” In addition, the law eliminates the “option of using carbon monoxide or dioxide chambers for euthanizing an animal deemed too aggressive or ill to be adopted into a home.”

Another provision includes a “no breed specific clause,” which means there can be “no laws that pinpoint or penalize breeds, like pit bills [sic].”

Take Action: Massachusetts residents, write your legislators and governor applauding their actions to protect the animals of your state. Residents of other states, please contact your legislators and urge them to follow Massachusetts’ lead in protecting the animals where you live.

The Honorable Deval Patrick
State House
Office of the Governor
Boston, MA 02133

Tele. no.: 617-727-3666
Fax no.: 617-727-9725
email: GOffice@state.ma.us

Animal Advocates

Paws Up!
To the Rhode Island legislature for passing a bill allowing for the appointment of an animal advocate in court cases.

The Rhode Island legislature recently passed H 7139, which allows “[t]he director of the department of environmental management [to]designate a department veterinarian or veterinarians to act as animal advocates. A general agent or special agent from the Rhode Island society for the prevention of cruelty to animals may also act in that capacity. [In addition}, [t]he animal advocate shall make recommendations to any court before which the custody or well-being of an animal is at issue.”

Animal advocates in court can help bring about better outcomes for abused and neglected animals.

Animals at federally-licensed research facilities are exempt from this bill.

Take Action: Rhode Island residents, write your legislators thanking them for protecting the animals of your state. Residents of other states, contact your legislators and encourage them to protect animals by sponsoring similar legislation.