Circuses

http://www.ad-international.org/animals_in_entertainment/go.php?id=222&ssi=10

Animal Defenders International is a “group of organizations… [that] work together globally for the protection of animals.” (See “About Us”) They work together across an array of locations to ensure that animals are being treated as the members of the organization believe that they should be. Among the areas of focus, the treatment of animals in the entertainment industry is a main concern for ADI.

In 1998, a group of Animal Defenders’ Field Officers in the UK worked with various circuses, video-taped the daily routine of numerous animals involved in the circus, and were consequently horrified at the manner in which the animals were treated for 18 months. Stones, metal bars, wooden planks, and negligence were thrown at the animals whenever they appeared to be stressed or were simply not cooperating.

In traveling circuses, where constant uprooting is required, many animals and their apparent uneasy feelings towards the unorthodox traveling procedures, the circus companies paid no mind, tying the animals down with heavy chains, leaving them stuck in their transport cages for long hours.

When not traveling, the conditions of their living quarters were hardly improved. Kept in dark, cramped cages the animals were not given enough exercise or comfort that they inevitably require in order to remain physically and psychologically healthy. Such confinement caused what can be described as nervous habits, “pointless repetitive movements and pacing….” “Abnormal behavior increased when animals were closely confined, tied, or chained up.” Consequently, these are the very environment in which they are kept in.

ADI has done as much as it can to ensure that the circus institutions that inflict pain and unprecedented circumstances onto these animals get reprimanded and shut down. 58 summonses were sent out to three specific individuals and when the charges against them were dropped, “ADI…immediately launched a massive letter-writing campaign….” With the effort of ADI, the three humans who were treating animals with disdain were found guilty for the cruelty they bestowed upon elephants and chimpanzees.

ADI is doing what they can to not let the prevailing cruelty towards circus animals continue. Through their active study of the environment in which these animals are living in, the way in which they are being treated, and they manners in which they are being transported they have experienced first-hand the horrifying conditions these animals unwillingly have found themselves in. With this information, ADI hopes to save the hundreds of animals by freeing them of the life they never asked to have. ADIs involvement across the globe makes them a very viable, very strong force against animal cruelty in circuses.

Carriage Horses

http://www.banhdc.org/

The Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages is a standing committee of the Coalition for New York City Animals, Inc. It was formed in January 2006 in response to the death of Spotty, a five year old carriage horse who died in a horrendous spooking accident on 9th Avenue and 50th St. on his way back to the stable.

It was the Coalition to Ban Horse-Drawn Carriages that brought this issue to the public after years of non-activity and disinterest. Since January 2006, we have been out there on the street educating people and creating support where there was none.We were the only organization that has been consistently involved and are primarily responsible for all the hard work that brought us to where we are today.

In the spring of 2006, we asked the Comptroller's office to do an Audit of the City agencies that oversee the carriage industry. When it was completed one year later, we made sure the NY Times reported on it even though it appeared that there was a cover-up since it had not been uploaded to the NYC Comptroller's web site two months after its issue date. In the last two years, we generated a lot of press - newspapers, radio and TV, letters to the editor - and got people and politicians talking about the issue again.

We created an issue where there had been no interest since the early 1990s when Peggy Parker of the Carriage Horse Action Committee was active.

In December, Council Member Tony Avella agreed to introduce legislation to ban horse-drawn carriages - Intro 658. This is the first time ever that legislation was introduced to ban this archaic out-of-place industry.

Our Committee and our volunteers consist of people from all walks of life. Some have a background in animal activism; for others, it was the first time they got involved with animal issues. But what we all have in common is compassion for the carriage horses and the hope that this cruel industry will come to an end.

Dog Fighting

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/dogfighting/facts/dogfighting_fact_sheet.html

For centuries, humans have deliberately pitted dog-aggressive dogs in staged fights against one another. Why are animal welfare advocates no closer to ending this brutal blood sport? This link provides a horrific detailed history on the practice of dog fighting.

Currently it is a felony in all 50 states to, not only host a dog fight, but also to spectate a fight.

Factory Farm Presentation

Nick Cooney's presentation on factory farms gave insights into both the overlooked and often times unknown amount of animal cruelty that slides in the American law system. One of the more interesting as well as shocking portions of the presentation centered around the statistics on animal waste. Of course cruelty being one of the obvious negative effects from factory farms, it seems that this simple equation [animals + food = waste] is overlooked in many circumstances in attempts to end the practice or radicalize a new one. One specific fact concerning animal waste in factory farms is waste removal and the depiction of the world's largest dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, clearly caused by American negligence. A dead zone is an area of land inhabitable of any animal life, and the dead zone illustrated in the presentation was just a massive floating body of dead fish. Waste obviously needs to be monitored and disposed of properly, or even eradicated entirely! Radicalization of factory farms is needed.