Update: This event has been cancelled. Read our full release here. 

 

 

ALERT: Help Cancel “Kill Your Own Bunny Workshop” at Vermont College 

We have a huge jeer for Sterling College in Vermont which is holding a horrific rabbit-slaughter workshop at the college’s farm on May 2nd at 10am in which live rabbits will be killed, skinned and turned into meat. Attendees are encouraged to bring their own live rabbits even though rabbits will also be “provided” for the demonstration.

 From a promotion of the event:

“Are you curious about raising rabbits for your homestead, but aren’t sure how to turn them from sweet, loving buns to meat for the table? Feel free to bring your own (rabbits)…”  

Please call Sterling College in Vermont today and ask them to cancel this monstrous event. Let them know rabbits, or any animals, should not be considered food and butchered live in a college workshop.  College officials are outrageously describing this event as “humane.”

Future farmers at the college can be taught that organic vegetable farming is truly humane, sustainable and better for the earth.

Call Sterling College’s President, Matthew Allen Derr, at  1-800-648-3591  and then press Extension 5 for President’s office

You can also email him at: mderr@sterlingcollege.edu


 

Cheers to San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulin Cruz Soto for signing an executive order that went into effect April 20 outlawing horse-drawn buggies in the city shortly after a horse pulling a carriage collapsed mid-route. 

We hope her swift response will not go unnoticed by New York City Council members who can implement a similar ban in New York City by voting for Bill # 573, which was introduced Dec. 8, 2014.

The legislation lays out several steps including not renewing carriage operating licenses. Instead, current carriage drivers would be offered job retraining opportunities and will be eligible to get medallions for green taxis, which can only pick up passengers in certain areas. Most importantly, the legislation ensures the horses will not end up in slaughterhouses. Friends of Animals has identified a sanctuary— the largest farm animal sanctuary in the country—that will take the first 100 horses, and another sanctuary has agreed to take at least 50 horses. Sanctuary space will be found for all the freed carriage horses.

The ban in San Juan was given in response to “the deplorable conditions of exploitation and mistreatment to which the horses are submitted on the streets of Old San Juan,” and for the need of “protecting the horses from the mistreatment to which they are exposed every day,” according to a statement by Cruz Soto. We also applaud her for making it clear she will not tolerate any animal abuse in her city.

“I urge citizens to report any situation of animals being mistreated. We do not permit activities that threaten the lives and safety of animals. I am committed to the well-being of the animals and my administration will halt any activities that threaten them,” Cruz Soto said.

Last fall, Israel banned the outdated mode of transportation, the first country in the world to outlaw the practice.

Friends of Animals is asking New York residents to contact their City Council representatives and tell them to vote yes to Bill # 573 to end the nose-to-tailpipe lifestyle of New York City carriage horses. If you live in NYC, you can find your council member’s contact information using this link. Send your own message or this list of facts about the carriage-horse industry.