Protection for Wild Animals in Travelling Circuses, in the US

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Calling all U.S readers!

Exotic animals forced to perform in travelling circuses are separated from their families, trained in a brutal fashion to perform unnatural tricks, chained and confined to small pens and cages and shipped around the country in trains or trucks for months on end.  It is impossible for circuses to meet the complex needs of animals causing high levels of stress.

This issue has been under discussion in the UK and I am pleased that there is now a growing movement in the U.S towards the protection of wild animals in circuses.  Countries such as Austria, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Peru, Singapore and Sweden have all banned wild animals from travelling circuses. 

If you are a resident of the U.S you can help by sending a message to your Congressperson, urging them to support this vitally important bill.  Click on this link for further information and simply enter a few details to send the readily prepared message to your Congressperson. 

Please don't forget to tell your friends by sharing this action on Facebook and/or Twitter.

Thank you.

Help the Loggerhead Sea Turtle

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to cause serious damage to animals such as sea turtles, sperm whales, dolphins, brown pelicans, Atlantic bluefin tuna to name a few and has damaged entire ecosystems.

I had a message from Jamie Rappaport Clark, the Executive Vice President of the Defenders of Wildlife informing me that imperiled loggerhead sea turtles are the most visible victims of the disaster as they were in trouble before the incident occured. The number of females nesting on beaches in Florida has declined by 50% in the past year. Both scientists and government officials have flagged this up asking what could this mean for the future of the loggerhead. The National Marine Fisheries Service is proposing to upgrade protection from threatened to endangered under the Endangered Species Act.

The oil spill has happened at a crucial time for the loggerhead turtle as they are currently at the peak of their nesting season. This is also the case for other sea turtles and shore birds. As you can imagine, oil is extremely toxic and dangerous to animals. Exposure to this can cause skin loss, poisoning, drowning and ultimately death. The worlds second largest nesting area of the loggerhead is on the beaches of south east USA and this area is expected to be threatened by the oil slick depending on how much of the slick is picked up by the Loop Current. The Loop Current is a powerful current which may bring the oil slick around the south and through the coral reef and mangrove areas then into the Gulf Stream and up to the East Coast of Florida.

How to Help?

Click on this link in order to contact the National Marine Fisheries Service to ensure that loggerheads are protected under the Endangered Species Act. When you come to enter your postcode the website won't recognise anything non-American or Canadian so enter 10242 instead (The New York zip code) and then the message will send.

Action Alert: Whaling

It's been a while since I posted some campaigns and action alerts so here is a call for help from the Humane Society of the US asking for people to assist them in contacting President Obama and asking him to make the moratorium on commercial whaling stronger as the current plan being considered by the International Whaling Commission which would give approval to Japan, Norway and Iceland participating in commercial whaling.

If you follow this link it will take you to a ready prepared e-mail but you may need to spend a bit of extra time on this one as the HSUS ask you to add your own comments.

Here are some suggested additions:

The proposal will not save whales--it will kill them.

It will allow whaling in the Antarctic Southern Ocean Sanctuary.

It will stimulate new whaling markets rather than close out struggling subsidized industries.

The proposal is not based on sound science. The quota numbers used are based on politics.

The proposal does not address animal welfare issues.

The proposal was developed using a process that prevented civil society from having any input or role in the negotiations.

I had a bit of trouble with the link so if it doesn't work please e-mail me at the.animal.news@googlemail.com and let me know and I'll direct you to the page another way.