The New York Times

excerpt from: Triple Axels Secure Title and Confidence

By JULIET MACUR

Johnny Weir’s costume at the United States figure skating championships featured white tufts of fox fur on his left shoulder.Elaine Thompson/Associated Press Johnny Weir’s costume at the United States figure skating championships featured white tufts of fox fur on his left shoulder.

Friends of Animals, the international animal rights group based in Connecticut, is not happy with the figure skater Johnny Weir — again. And this time it’s not because he wears fur.

With about two weeks left before the Vancouver Games, Weir switched his long-program costume from one with genuine white fox fur to one with faux fox fur. In a statement Thursday, Weir said that “pressures and threats from a certain animal rights group” had prompted him to make the change.

But Priscilla Feral, the president of Friends of Animals, said Friday that those statements have unfairly characterized the group, a nonprofit organization that has existed since 1957. She said the organization never threatened Weir. It was the white Arctic fox used for Weir’s costume, not Weir, who was victimized here, she said.

“All we did was write him an open letter,” Feral said. “Was it stark, yes? But it was written with care. Was there public outcry? Oh yes, there was. But we didn’t have anything to do with threats of violence. There was a firestorm of reaction. He was hearing from hordes of people.”

Anai Rhoads, a spokeswoman for the organization, said Friends of Animals reached out to Weir, his costume designer and his agent only to fax or e-mail the open letter and then to send the news release regarding the open letter.

“There was no other communication,” she said.

When asked Friday to show the threatening e-mail messages that she or Weir had received regarding the fur costume, Modlin said she had deleted them. She also said that neither she nor Weir had contacted Facebook security to notify it of abusive messages Weir had received, nor had they called the police about the threats.

“The e-mails are not pleasant,” Modlin said. “I don’t want Johnny reading unpleasant e-mails. I want him to focus on skating. I hope this makes those people stop.”

By Nancy Armour (CP)

Animal rights groups can leave Johnny Weir alone now.

Weir will replace the fox on his costume with faux fur after receiving “hate mail and death threats” from animal rights activists, agent Tara Modlin said Thursday.

“He’s changing it because he needs to focus on skating,” she said.

Friends of Animals posted an open letter to Weir after he added white fox fur to the left shoulder of his free skate costume for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. On Tuesday, the animal advocacy group called his costume designer, Stephanie Handler, and faxed a press release about its open letter to her business.

read full article>

Johnny Weir has set fur flying again.

Friends of Animals has posted an open letter to the figure skater, criticizing him for having fox on one of his costumes and asking him to stop wearing fur. The animal advocacy group also contacted his costume designer, Stephanie Handler, on Tuesday.

”I totally get the dirtiness of the fur industry and how terrible it is to animals. But it’s not something that’s the No. 1 priority in my life,” Weir said Tuesday night. ”There are humans dying everyday. There are thousands if not millions of homeless people in New York City. Look at what just happened in Haiti.

”I tend to focus my energy, if there is a cause, on humans. While that may be callous and bad of me, it’s my choice.”

Weir said he thought the costume was ”lovely,” but Friends of Animals disagreed. Foxes are electrocuted or beaten, and their pelts are obtained by skinning the animals alive, said Anai Rhoads, spokeswoman for the group.

”He’s a role model for a lot of people, including other skaters,” said Priscilla Feral, president of Friends of Animals. ”When he makes fun of the suffering of animals that are consumed for this frivolous fashion industry and whose lives are sacrificed so he can wear little tufts of fur on his outfit, that’s fair game for comment.”

Weir finished third at nationals, qualifying for his second Olympic team.

Friends of Animals is not the first group to target Weir. He said he’s gotten letters from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and people have sent him videos depicting how animals are treated by the fur industry.

But Weir said this is the first time someone has contacted Handler.

”She did what I asked her to. It wasn’t her choice to make me a costume with fur,” Weir said. ”At least directly come to me and yell at me. Don’t attack my peeps.”

Weir said he understands the groups’ objections, but he doesn’t share their point of view.

Besides, he’s not the only skater wearing animal skin products.

”Every skater is wearing skates made out of cow,” Weir said. ”Maybe I’m wearing a cute little fox while everyone else is wearing cow, but we’re all still wearing animals.”

The American skater is on a quest for the gold medal at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. During an interview with the New York Times, Weir boasted smugly that he “looked pretty” in his outfit, which visibly showed fur obtained from a fox on his sleeves.

In the letter, FoA President Priscilla Feral bluntly criticized Weir’s love-affair with fur, stating, “Please consider that there’s nothing pretty about the fox that suffered and died to trim your outfit. The beautiful fox was likely anally electrocuted, or may have had its head bashed in, only to serve as decoration for someone’s performance.”

Friends of Animals is urging Weir to stop wearing fur, not only for the sake of animals, but for his own Olympic ambitions. Critics say his admiration for furs have quickly put him in the hot seat and have even over-shadowed his chances for placement in Vancouver.

“In the end, nobody cares what a figure skater wears. You will only be judged on your performance and the strength of your character,” Added Feral.

Johnny Weir

A recent New York Times article discussed your quest for the gold medal at the Vancouver Olympics.

The author mentioned your outfit had a “touch of fox” on the shoulders, and, despite your third place showing at the United States Figure Skating Championships on Sunday, you thought your outfit “looked pretty.”

Please consider that there’s nothing pretty about the fox that suffered and died to trim your outfit. The beautiful fox was likely anally electrocuted, or may have had its head bashed in, only to serve as decoration for someone’s performance.

You say that you want to bring an “artistic style” to the Olympics, stating that “everyone can do jumps.” But, as past Olympic champions have shown us, style isn’t everything. In addition to skill, you must also have a sense of decorum in order to bring home the gold. And projecting a conscientious view of the planet’s animals is a starting point.

While you may believe that wearing fur is a “personal choice,” kindly know that the animals you wear had no such choice. The fur doesn’t magically slide off these beautiful beings. Their nightmare begins in the cramped cages they spend their lives in, where they are forced to lay in their own feces, and ends with first cut in their anuses. Or maybe some animals you wear were caught in leghold traps, and struggled in vain to gnaw off their legs? Either way, there is nothing glamorous or pretty about the cruelty they endured. And it can’t be morally justified either.

Friends of Animals urges you, for the sake of humanity, your Olympic ambitions and the hopes of all Americans this winter, to stop wearing the skins of animals. Instead, wow the judges with amazing performances. In the end, nobody cares what a figure skater wears. You will only be judged on your performance and the strength of your character.

Priscilla Feral
President of Friends of Animals

The ASPCA announced in its press release, “There are an estimated 5 million head of livestock in the country (mostly goats).”

The area hardest hit did in fact have goats, as the non-profit groups pointed out. However, the 5 million figure for livestock was been greatly exaggerated.

“I didn’t see one cat while I was there, and I would have noticed that because I’m very much a cat person,” said James Patrick Jordan, who was in Haiti for a human rights delegation just six days prior to the quake. “There didn’t appear to be a lot of overcrowded factory farming of animals, and since they weren’t, as a rule, confined to buildings that would have fallen on them.”

In 2008, a series of strong storms ravished Haiti, which wiped out most of the livestock and crops. The people there were left with nothing and the situation was grim. Food prices were distended and children were in desperate need of aid. Before Tuesday’s quake, it was said that Haiti never fully recovered from these storms. Jordan told AnaiRhoads.org that the people mainly survived sparingly on goats, and that there were no companion animals. This fits with the statistics left over from the 2008 storms.

The groups involved in raising funds for a mass number of animals, which don’t seem to exist, includes the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). The ASPCA and its number of animal welfare groups, are also involved. These include American Humane, Best Friends, HSUS and Humane Society International (HSI).

The ASPCA’s alert also states, “IFAW and WSPA have also begun to stock a mobile clinic with vaccines, antibiotics, bandages, food, and other supplies in anticipation of bringing direct aid to animals.” In an e-mail sent out to its members on 13 January, IFAW had stated that it would wait 1-2 weeks before heading into Haiti.

The animals are being eaten at a rapid pace. By the time anyone steps in - there will be none to save. During such a cataclysmic natural disaster, one would think of saving all living things not just those they deem “valuable.”

IFAW statement - “As always with disasters like this, the humanitarian rescue efforts will be the focus in the first week or so… The immediate priorities will be getting food, clean water, shelter and medical attention to the survivors.”

Knowing this and knowing that in 2008 nearly everything was wiped out to feed over 9 million people in Haiti, IFAW chose to wait. The main objective of this org, and the other orgs collaborating with them, is to save animals and not necessarily human-animals.

“After those immediate human needs are met, IFAW’s Emergency Response team will be ready to assist the animal victims in any way that we can.”

Piles of dead men, women and children strewn the streets. Over 40 percent of the population consisted of children under the age of 14 prior to the quake. The mortuaries cannot keep up with the bodies. People are languishing in the hot sun, wandering aimlessly desperate for shade.

Several women have given birth this week - without assistance. They are encouraged to breastfeed, all the while having nothing to eat or drink to sustain their flow. Those with babies caught in this nightmare, who were not breastfed, are now using contaminated water to mix baby formula.

The wounded are piling up in hospitals. Many are being treated by the side of the road. The situation in Haiti is grim and waiting for aid is not an option. That’s the reality.

Being an animal and human rights advocate for the last 17 years, I can tell you that supporting orgs which only focus on one or the either in times like this, should not be supported. Especially ones that toy with our emotions through misleading campaigns with exaggerated figures.

According to a 13 January Big Game Hunt notice, the derby will run from 16 January through the 17th throughout Lake, Malheur, Harney, and Klamath counties. The event will be headquartered in Silver Lake, Oregon, where the final winners will be determined.

For a simple fee of $50.00, two-person teams will be permitted to kill as many coyotes as humanly possible for these prizes. Big Game Hunt will determine the winners by the number of severed ears each hunter presents.

Friends of Animals’ president Priscilla Feral urges the public to contact the Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) to object to the killing contest, and to publicly state that they do not condone, support, or sponsor hunts that molest coyotes, and patronize hunters to revive an ailing hunting industry.

Oregon is appeasing hunters in the state, who make up only 6 percent of the residents who are licensed.

Feral added, “Moreover, coyotes have been an important selective factor which have helped the deer and elk to evolve, and maintain them as the alert, robust and hardy animals that they are. Perhaps after removing a large number of coyotes, the wildlife agency will then be announcing that there are too many deer and elk - and offer another opportunity for hunters to renew their hunting licenses, with revenues channeled to the wildlife agency.”

Contact:

Commission and ODFW
Phone: (503) 947-6000
Toll Free: (800) 720-ODFW
TTY: (503) 947-6339
Email Commission
Email ODFW

Note: Talking points and more information may be obtained through Predator Defense.

When: Sunday, January 17th, 1pm-3pm

Wild horses and burros of the west are under siege and you’re needed to stop this. Join us on Sunday, January 17th, from 1-3pm, in busy Columbus Circle, where Friends of Animals, The Cloud Foundation, the Equine Welfare Alliance, and In Defense of Animals will hold a demonstration and press conference demanding an end to the roundup and removal of free-living horses on the Nevada Range. Let’s tell the media and public that this madness must stop now. Free-roaming horses and burros must be respected: not sterilized, not privatized, not slaughtered.

Assaults on these horses runs counter to the spirit of federal law in place for 39 years. We can end the terrifying roundups, and ensure free-roaming horses and burros receive genuine and full protection of the law — but only by raising our voices and acting in large numbers.

We assert that the only way to truly protect free-living horses on the pockets of lands that constitute their habitat is to empower them to remain free.

The U.S. government’s willingness to serve the interests of agribusiness by cheaply leasing it nearly all public lands with any forage potential compromises the well-being of wild horses on the very rangelands the government is charged with protecting. The root of this problem lies with ranchers raising animals for slaughter: Horses are being removed so that they don’t compete with cows, sheep and other animals for water and grasses.

The time has come for the BLM to do the job of protecting and respecting wild horses and burros. Their social lives and freedoms are destroyed when they’re yanked from public lands and privatized by either the BLM or residents who adopt them. The members and supporters of Friends of Animals demand that these horses remain free and wild on public lands.

Posters will be provided.

If you cannot attend to demonstration we urge you to call the White House and ask Obama to STOP the horse & burro roundups now:

Call the White House: 202.456.1111

For more information, or to RSVP, contact Edita by Email , or by phone at 212.247.8120

By MARYBETH HOLLEMAN

Through binoculars, we could see the Mount Margaret pack, six of them, on a
gentle slope in the slanted sunlight of a cold September morning. Some were
sprawled on their sides. Others curled up, head tucked under tail. A pair,
one dark gray and one sandy white, tumbled and jumped over each other.

Seeing us by the roadside, other cars and buses stopped. We helped
one another locate them, shared spotting scopes and coffee, strangers come
together to watch the wolves of Denali National Park.

But those same wolves — that entire pack — didn’t survive the
winter. Wolves from all three of the park’s most commonly viewed packs are
increasingly trapped and hunted outside the eastern boundary on state lands,
in some places as close as four miles from the park road.

Read the full story online>

Darien CT - Due to loopholes in Indiana’s wildlife regulations, countless numbers of coyotes and foxes are being trapped and killed for recreational pursuits. To make matters worse, the state currently has no laws identifying cruelty to wild animals, such as coyotes and red foxes.

Hunting enthusiasts are paying a fee to running pen operators to train their hunting dogs. The red foxes and coyotes are lured into traps to only be released to face a pack of hunting dogs.

Out of nearly seven million residents, only 4.1 percent (254,000) of the population is composed of licensed hunters. These hunters are essentially manipulating the law – and the state is turning a blind eye.

What the state fails to recognize is that out of its nearly seven million residents, there are an estimated two million who are wild-life watchers. Many residents are not even aware that these running pen operations, which are solely used to entice a battle between wildlife and domesticated animals, are a result of a minority of voters.

While other states have rejected this vicious training or “sport,” Indiana has allowed this to continue, catering to the interests of a small minority of licensed, resident hunters, whose license fees are channeled to the state’s wildlife agency.

On 16 March, a meeting is scheduled to take place by the Indiana Natural Resource Commission. We at Friends of Animals urge you to contact NRC officials and Indiana’s governor right away and persuade these officials to prohibit the capture of foxes and coyotes for the purpose of training hunting dogs.

NRC Officials:

Jennifer Kane
jkane@nrc.in.gov
(317) 232-4699

Sandra Jensen
sjensen@nrc.in.gov
(317) 232-4229

Office of Governor Mitch Daniels
200 W. Washington St #206
Indianapolis, IN 46204-2731
(317) 232-4567
mdaniels@gov.in.gov

Philadelphia Inquirer
By Jeff Gammage
Staff Writer

National Park Service officials have called off this winter’s long-planned and highly controversial deer kill at Valley Forge National Historical Park.

Friends of Animals, a co-plaintiff, is pleased the deer have a “holiday reprieve,” Harris said. He added the group “will continue to fight on their behalf until this illegal plan is fully set aside.”

The plan called for sharpshooters to eliminate at least 1,500 deer in four years - 500 this winter, 500 the next, and between 250 and 300 each in the third and fourth years. That would eradicate 86 percent of a herd that park officials say has grown big and destructive.

…The superintendent declined to comment on the litigation. Friends of Animals and a second group, Compassion for Animals, Respect [for] the Environment, of West Chester, filed suit last month against Caldwell and other park service officials to stop the kill.

Animal advocates met yesterday’s news with delight.

Full story in the Philadelphia Inquirer

Published: December 19th, 2009 09:00 PM

http://www.adn.com/news/alaska/wildlife/wolves/story/1063248.html

BOISE, Idaho — A wildlife advocacy group has asked President Barack Obama to end aerial gunning of coyotes and other predators, citing an Idaho incident where a shotgun-wielding parachutist illegally fired on a wolf.

New Mexico-based Wild- Earth Guardians’ 39-page petition also urged Obama to banish spring-loaded cyanide devices and other predator poisoning methods from public lands, calling them dangerous and indiscriminate.

No charges were filed, but WildEarth Guardians said the Idaho case shows federal agencies have lost control of aerial shooting. The group also contends airborne predator control programs run by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services division cost taxpayers unnecessary millions and lead to accidents that have killed 38 people since 1973.

“We call upon the Obama administration to protect our native carnivores,” said Wendy Keefover-Ring, a spokeswoman for WildEarth Guardians in Boulder, Colo.

In January, the federal Environmental Protection Agency refused a similar demand from WildEarth Guardians and others to ban cyanide for predator control, calling its arguments “unpersuasive.”…

In 2005, Idaho officials convinced the Federal Aviation Administration to expand policies to allow licensed ultralight aircraft pilots to shoot predators from aloft.

Aerial gunning even rose to the level of presidential politics in 2008, when then-Alaska governor and vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin unapologetically backed her state’s airborne wolf hunts.

Ranching interests including the American Sheep Industry Association say using aircraft and poison to kill coyotes is an important tool to combat $125 million in annual losses from predators to the sheep, goat and cattle industry. Peter Orwick, the group’s director in Englewood, Colo., said WildEarth Guardians has a radical animal-rights agenda that threatens the livelihood of ranching families like his own.

“If they weren’t able to use airplanes, they would not be in the livestock business,” Orwick said. WildEarth Guardians “wants absolutely no control tools made available, from the federal perspective.”

USDA Wildlife Services, with a budget of about $120 million, reported killing some 4.9 million animals in 2008 in efforts to control predators and invasive species. It uses airborne predator management primarily for coyotes, wolves and feral swine, spokeswoman Meghan Klingel said.

Darien, CT – A prominent international animal advocacy organization sent a strong message to environmental leaders on Friday: “Put your carbon credits where your mouth is.”

Friends of Animals believes that addressing animal agriculture, a significant contributor to global warming, is long overdue. As leaders in Copenhagen have been scrambling to come up with solutions to our climate crisis, most are contributing to it through their diets.

“While we applaud your actions to reduce industrial emissions, we feel that not enough is being done to reduce greenhouse gasses caused by animal agriculture,” wrote Friends of Animals President, Priscilla Feral. “That’s why we are calling on you…to make a New Year’s resolution to ‘Go Vegan.’”

Environmental leaders should be committed to reducing all of their emissions, not just those they find convenient. By going vegan, these leaders will be letting people know that they can make a significant contribution to reducing greenhouse gasses just by changing their diet.

Added Feral “Going vegan is the easiest and most effective step a person can take to reduce greenhouse emissions…Animal agriculture is responsible for everything from deforestation to factory farming waste ponds –and if you eat meat or dairy, you are contributing to these destructive practices.”

Veganism is a diet that voids all use of animal products, including meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and honey. In addition, we shun all use of leathers, wool, silk and furs. For those interested in learning more about veganism, please download a free copy of the Vegan Starter Guide, courtesy of Friends of Animals, today.

A copy of FoA’s letter may be viewed here.

While we applaud your actions to reduce industrial emissions, we feel that not enough is being done to reduce greenhouse gasses caused by animal agriculture.

The most recent report to be released, Livestock and Climate Change, issued by the Worldwatch Institute, demonstrates that 51 percent of the of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are directly linked to dairy and meat production. While these reports may vary in the amount of greenhouse gasses they attribute to animal agriculture, the reports all come to the same conclusion – our diet plays a significant role in climate change.

As an environmental leader, we know that you want to do everything in your power to curb harmful emissions and protect our planet. We also know that you want to encourage your members and supporters to do the same.

That’s why we are calling on you, if you haven’t already, to make a New Year’s resolution to ‘Go Vegan.’

Veganism is a diet that voids all use of animal products, including meat, poultry, eggs, dairy and honey. In addition, we shun all use of leathers, wool, silk and furs.

Going vegan is the easiest and most effective step a person can take to reduce greenhouse emissions. By going vegan, you will be sending a message to your members, and world leaders, that you are serious about ending climate change. You will also be demonstrating that people can make a major contribution to reducing greenhouse gasses just by changing their diet.

To put it bluntly: It’s time to put your carbon credits where your mouth is.

Animal agriculture is responsible for everything from deforestation to factory farming waste ponds – and if you eat meat or dairy, you are contributing to these destructive practices.

Friends of Animals hopes that you will investigate for yourself the effects of animal agriculture on climate change, and resolve to go vegan. Our office will be more than happy to send you a copy of our Vegan Starter Guide and any other information that would help in your transition to a healthy and environment-friendly diet. We look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Priscilla Feral
President

Ardmore, PA, US — Members of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Friends of Animals (FoA-PA) and the West Chester based group Compassion for Animals, Respect for the Environment (CARE) will be visible on the Main Line today, publicly opposing the Township’s decision to kill white-tailed deer.

The opposition will be visible from 2:30 pm until 4:00 pm today in front of the Township Administration Building, adjacent to the large Main Line Honda dealership on East Lancaster Avenue (Route 30), Ardmore, PA 19003.

“Bringing sharpshooters to suburban Philadelphia isn’t the right answer,” said Secretary of the Pennsylvania Chapter of Friends of Animals Matthew McLaughlin. “Deer are conscious beings, with communities and social ties, and they are part of a bigger balance. We need to teach our children to respect nature and the animals living in our midst. Moreover, killing them causes them to rebound; we know what this cycle looks like.”

McLaughlin said ticks would find other hosts in the absence of deer – such as family pets.

The killing began last month, from the 16th until the 19th, when Friends of Animals and CARE opposed it publicly. A second spate of killing began yesterday and is expected to continue through the 17th of December, when Lower Merion Township plans to evaluate the effects of the killing.

Notably, even in areas where Lyme disease is endemic, upwards of 70-80 percent of the ticks are not infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infection Diseases, the actual risk of becoming infected after being bitten by a tick in a Lyme disease endemic area is estimated to be only 1.4 percent.

The Township’s Special Use Permit from the Pennsylvania Game Commission allows the Township to carry out the killings from November 2009 through September 2010. But FoA-PA and CARE believe it is possible for human beings and white-tailed deer to peacefully co-exist, and points out that they already do so. The groups ask their members and others to protest.