“Please sign this petition, We have to keep the public updated on animal welfare issues. But with the AG- Gag Laws trying to be introduced to protect those who are blatantly flaunting the law; it’s hard to know what or where to turn to next. Please sign the petition here or further down.”
“We have to be the voice of the voiceless & ensure laws put in place to protect them; are in use!”
“YOU The PUBLIC have a voice, if you eat meat, don’t you want it to come from healthy farms, where the animals are cared for as they should be.? There are no excuses as you can see in the second video…but farmers cut corners to produce meat cheaply…would you honestly want to eat the meat that came from ill, diseased or filthy animals fed with slop??”
“Every time you open the door to one of these farms, you tell yourself: ‘it will be better than the last. They can’t all be ignoring the law, they can’t all be inflicting such misery.’ But then you see the pigs, and realise the scale of the suffering. It breaks your heart.”
Compassion’s Head of Investigations.
We have created a short video to summarise the findings of our investigation. Please help us to protect the pigs by watching it and sharing it as widely as possible.
The biggest scandal in modern pig farming?
Published on 23 Oct 2013
Much of the EU pig industry is completely ignoring basic welfare laws — leading to the suffering of millions of pigs. Compassion in World Farming has pulled together evidence from across Europe — join us in standing up for pig welfare by signing the petition: http://www.ciwf.org/EUpigvideo
Last year Compassion visited 45 pig farms across the EU. We went south to Italy and Spain; south-east to Cyprus; west to Ireland; and east to Poland and the Czech Republic. On every single farm we found the laws put in place to protect pig welfare were being flouted – the suffering was hard to witness.
And it doesn’t stop there.
We believe aspects of the Pigs Directive are being blatantly ignored all across the EU, inflicting illegal cruelty on millions of intelligent and sensitive animals. There are over 140 million pigs in the EU at any one time. Sometimes the scale of the challenge we are facing seems overwhelming.
But we have good news. The response to our petition has been amazing. It is the fastest growing petition in Compassion’s history; please help us keep up the momentum.
Humane, sustainable dairy farming can and does exist in California! In this film, Philip visits Strauss dairy whose organic dairy herd graze on pasture and are treated as much more than just units of production.
Over a three-year period Philip Lymbery (CEO of Compassion in World Farming) has travelled the world bearing witness to the hidden cost of cheap meat and the devastating impact of factory farming — on people, animals and our planet.
The findings of this journey are brought together for the very first time in Farmageddon (published by Bloomsbury).
UPDATED 6:29 pm, Fri Dec 13, 2013. COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WAAY) – Authorities have charged a woman with animal cruelty after finding 4 dead dogs outside her home and more than 120 dogs on her property earlier this week.
Debra Jane Catledge
Debra Jane Catledge, 53, is charged with 15 counts of second-degree dog cruelty. Catledge was released from the Colbert County Jail on a $750 cash bond. She could face a year in jail on each misdemeanor count or a fine.
Earlier this week, animal control officers rescued a total of 122 Yorkies and Pomeranians from Catledge’s home on Highway 72 in Barton. Authorities said the dogs were in wire cages out in the freezing weather. They also found 2 dead dogs.
On Thursday, the Colbert County Sheriff’s office executed a search warrant at Catledge’s home and found 2 more dead dogs, 6 live dogs, and illegal moonshine in a barn.
Sheriff Ronnie May said Catledge told investigators she took numerous other dogs out of state but will not say where.
“We’re in the process of locating her residence out of state and another family residence out of state to see if the additional dogs that she had are at those locations” said May,
May said more charges are expected in the next week for the moonshine found on the property.
Staff and volunteers at the Colbert County Animal Shelter are grooming and performing medical examinations on 122 Yorkies and Pomeranians rescued from a home on Tuesday.
Investigators rescue 122 dogs from alleged Colbert County puppy mill
COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. (WAAY) – On Tuesday, Colbert County Animal Control officers and the sheriff‘s department seized 122 Yorkies and Pomeranians found outside a home on Hwy 72 in the Barton community.
Colbert County Animal Control Director Judie Nichols said her office received a tip from a concerned citizen that the small dogs were being kept outside in the cold.
Animal control officers responded to the complaint around 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday and found two dead dogs frozen to their wire cages. Investigators spent several hours at the home taking pictures of all the animals that also included 2 exotic birds.
The dogs were housed in wire cages 3 to 4 feet off the ground. Nichols said the dogs were in good condition as a whole but the biggest concern was their exposure to the freezing temperatures.
“They were wet some of them and they had ice on their fur” said Nichols. “They were just very cold, huddled up, just cold.”
The shelter is now over capacity with more than 200 animals after taking in the dogs and more are expected since over 25 are pregnant.
“The owner was overwhelmed” said Nichols. “I think she went way overboard. She had way more than she could care for. It’s obvious she was breeding them.”
Staff and volunteers are busy grooming and performing medical evaluations on all the dogs which could take a few days. Nichols said they are also scanning each dog for a microchip to make sure none were stolen.
The shelter is not accepting any animals from the public until they can start adopting out the animals but are still responding to animal control calls.
“If they find a stray, we would like to ask for their patience and their understanding” said Nichols.
Colbert County Sheriff Ronnie May said the district attorney is waiting for all the dogs to be evaluated before deciding if animal cruelty charges will be filled against the owner. No charges have been filled at this time.
It could be several days before the dogs are available for adoption. The birds were signed over by the owner and have been adopted.
Investigators said other animals including horses were found on the property but appeared to be well cared for.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund, along with PETA, has filed the nation’s first lawsuit against ag gag legislation, taking Utah to court for infringing on the free speech rights of activists, investigators, and journalists by criminalizing undercover investigations at factory farms.
Utah’s ag gag law aims to prevent animal advocates and law enforcement from collecting evidence of egregious and illegal abuse of animals on factory farms.
Factory farms want to keep their cruel practices hidden from the public, but the public deserves the truth about how the billions of animals suffering on industrial farms are treated and whether or not laws are being broken that jeopardize food safety, workers’ rights, and environmental standards.
Shocking exposés from undercover investigations have revealed severe animal abuse on factory farms, like animals beaten, kicked, maimed, and thrown by workers. Industrial agriculture has also brought us the unsavory likes of ammonia and pink slime in hamburgers, antibiotic-resistant “superbugs,”chickens abandoned by the thousands to starve to death, pregnant and nursing pigs held in gestation crates that never allow them to turn around, and sick and downed cows dragged on the ground to become lunchmeat. Corporate agriculture’s massive profit ratio and proven inclination to hide in a dark world of secrecy makes journalistic and investigative freedom imperative to the well-being of animals across the nation—and to our own health and safety.
Journalistic Integrity
Utah’s ag gag law criminalizes free speech. That is why the Animal Legal Defense Fund is joining with journalists Will Potter and Jesse Fruhwirth; Daniel Hauff, an undercover investigations consultant specializing in factory farms; the political journal CounterPunch; and professor James McWilliams, as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. “There’s a long history of investigative journalism in this country based on exactly the type of research and whistleblowing that these laws criminalize,” Will Potter explains. “Ag gag laws make it impossible to report stories that are vitally important to the public.”
Utah activist Amy Meyer is also a plaintiff in the case. In February, Amy made headlines by videotaping the operations at Dale Smith Meatpacking Company in Draper, Utah from the roadside. Amy was charged under Utah’s ag gag law—making her the first person in the nation to be prosecuted under an ag gag law–although the charges were dropped after public outcry.
Ag gag laws aim to control our behaviour by instilling fear of prosecution. This is legally known as the “chilling effect” because it intimidates people from acting and gathering information—even in legally-protected ways. Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam recently vetoed a proposed ag gag law after the Tennessee Attorney General called the bill “constitutionally suspect.” Erwin Chemerinksy, a professor and dean of the law school at the University of California, Irvine, and a leading scholar of U.S. constitutional law, has weighed in in support of the lawsuit, explaining, “The Utah law is very much directed at restricting speech, and especially particular messages. This is exactly what the First Amendment prohibits.”
Amy Meyer was the first person charged with violating an ag gag law, for simply filming a slaughterhouse from a public road in Draper City, Utah.
The Animal Legal Defense Fund has filed the nation’s first lawsuit against ag gag legislation, taking Utah to court for infringing on the free speech rights of activists, investigators, and journalists by criminalizing undercover investigations at factory farms.
Sweden on Thursday proposed legislation that would completely outlaw bestiality, tightening current rules that only prohibit sex with animals that causes mental or physical harm.
“The government is now toughening bestiality laws so that there is no doubt that it’s prohibited to abuse animals,” Rural Affairs Minister Eskil Erlandsson said in a statement.
“There should be no doubt whatsoever that bestiality is unacceptable.”
Until now, bestiality was illegal in Sweden only if it could be proven that the animal had been subjected to suffering.
Starting on January 1st, 2014, however, any sexual act with an animal will be punishable by a fine, a maximum prison sentence of two years, or both, even if the animal shows no sign of injury or suffering.
“I hope that this sort of act doesn’t take place in society at all. And now we’re putting that explicitly into law,” Erlandsson told the TT news agency.
In 2008, Erlandsson came in for criticism for using graphic language during a debate on the floor of parliament in an attempt to describe the difficulty of legislating against bestiality.
While he first expressed his “disgust” for anyone who has sex with animals, Erlandsson continued to offer a graphic example to demonstrate that “what counts as sexual abuse of animals” isn’t always easy to define, much to the surprise of fellow MPs.
“It was distasteful. It sunk to a horrendously low level. I don’t think one needs to discuss details like that in the Riksdag,” Social Democrat MP Monica Green told the Aftonbladet newspaper at the time.
“He mixed up people’s sexuality with animals’ sexuality. His example was also appalling.”
While it’s been nearly 18 months since the government first commissioned an inquiry into the bestiality ban, news that the law was finally on its way came as welcome news to Sweden’s veterinarians.
“It’s very good that the law will be changed,” a spokesman for the Swedish Federation of Veterinarians (Sveriges Veterinärförbund), Johan Beck-Friis, told AFP.
“It’s very important that society makes a clear statement that it is unacceptable to use animals that way,” he said.
Germany introduced a ban in December, following in the footsteps of Britain, France, and Switzerland among others.
The Swedish parliament is expected to pass the bill into law soon, as there is broad political consensus on the issue.
According to Beck-Friis, under the current law veterinarians may suspect that an animal has been sexually abused but they are generally unable to prove it.
As a result, there are no statistics available on how common bestiality is in the country.
In 2006, the latest year for which statistics are available, about 100 cases of animals suffering injuries suspected of being related to bestiality were brought to the authorities’ attention, Beck-Friis said.
First Ag-Gag Prosecution Almost Comes to Fruition in Utah
Amy Meyer was driving by the Dale Smith Meatpacking Company slaughterhouse in Utah when she decided to pull over and videotape what she saw: piles or horns littered across the property, cows being dragged across the grounds, one cow in particularly who appeared sick or injured being hauled off in a tractor “as though she were nothing more than rubble,” Meyer told the online paper Green is the New Red.
Meyer’s videotaping did not go over well with the slaughterhouse manager, Darrel H. Smith, the town mayor, who told her to stop. She made it clear that she was not on his property, and had every right to record anything she wanted.
At least that’s what she thought.
However, later on Meyer learned that she was going to be prosecuted under Utah’s new law (a law many people refer to as an “ag-gag law”) which is designed to prohibit undercover videos of farms and slaughterhouses.
The charges were eventually dropped, perhaps since Meyer was on the roadside, and not trespassing on private property (although Utah’s law is sketchy on those particulars). However, this brings to light the progress that these ag-gag laws have made over the course of the year.
Ag-Gag Laws aren’t that new. Kansas, Montana, and North Dakota all have had forms of this type of law in place for the last two decades. But in recent years more and more states are considering implementing rules that prohibit undercover videos of animal abuse. Much of this has come as a result of troubling videos made by groups like the Humane Society and Mercy for Animals. These videos were truly undercover, meaning that the videos were taken on the property of the farms (oftentimes by employees-turned-whistleblowers of the farm or slaughterhouse).
Most of the Ag-Gag laws don’t prohibit the ability to film from a roadside (like Meyer did). However, states are finding ways around this. For example, Pennsylvania’s proposed bill criminalizes anyone who “records an image of, or sound from, the agricultural operation,” or who “uploads, downloads, transfers or otherwise sends” footage using the Internet.
Tennessee’s bill passed, and is awaiting the governor’s signature. During the process, however, one state rep (Andy Holt) referred to the Humane Society’s use of undercover footage of animal abuse as no different than how human-traffickers use 17-year-old women. He claims that organizations like the Humane Society “seek to profit from animal abuse” using a “tape and rape” method.
Proponents of ag-gag laws share at least part of Holt’s sentiment. Proponents claim that if any animal abuse does take place at a facility, employees have the ability, and obligation, to report to authorities. Videos, they believe, do nothing but sensationalize the problem, and, in fact, those who videotape these abuses for use in supporting a cause are participating in the abuse. Those who videotape animal abuse ought to be required to submit the evidence to police, immediately, rather than to broadcast it to the world.
Opponents of ag-gag laws claim that employees are not likely to openly report abuses to authorities, because they aren’t quick to report themselves or their co-workers. Furthermore, opponents claim that these videos can be used later on as evidence of abuse, if formal charges are ever brought to light.
However, above all else, opponents of ag-gag laws claim that not being able to broadcast abuse severely limits their ability to inform the public of the truth. When people actually get to see and hear the abuse, they’ll realize the problem is far worse than they imagined. These images and videos might stir people into anger and, eventually action.
Currently Nebraska, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Vermont are considering ag-gag laws similar to that of Utah and Tennessee.
Well-known animal activists, such as Carrie Underwood, aren’t taken this ag-gag progress lightly. On April 18, soon after Tennessee’s bill passed, she tweeted this to her thousands of followers:
“Shame on TN lawmakers for passing the Ag Gag bill. If Gov. Bill Haslam signs this, he needs to expect me at his front door. Who’s with me?”
“How can anyone think, shoving a gavage (pipe or tube) down the esophagus, of geese or ducks then force feeding them with, typically, corn boiled with fat (to facilitate ingestion) so the birds liver becomes over enlarged; so it can then be eaten as a delicacy… is totally beyond me! Of course it’s bloody cruel & barbaric, no other animal that I can think of is force fed via a tube to make any part of their body fatter for human consumption. Yes animals are given extra grain & even growth hormones but they are not force fed it via a bloody pipe…it’s savage & uncalled for; we kill enough animals to meet the demand for meat or other animal body parts! Do we really have to force feed a bird in constant chronic pain from the tube…just for a delicacy?? What will they come up with next, pickled eyeballs, coated in vinegar daily, to get that perfect crunch?? One could say, this is almost as bad as bear bile being taken from a bear!!
Goose being force-fed so humans can dine on their enlarged livers!!
“Look at the disgusting filthy gavage (pipe) & other equipment; there is no wonder so many birds die of disease. While force feeding is required to meet the French legal definition of “foie gras”, producers outside France do not always force feed birds in order to produce fattened livers that they consider to be foie gras, instead allowing them to eat freely, termed ad libitum. Interest in alternative production methods has grown recently due to ethical concerns in gavage-based foie gras production. Such livers are alternatively termed fatty goose liver, ethical foie gras, or humane foie gras.”Source-Wikipedia
“During feeding, efforts are made to avoid damaging the bird’s esophagus, which could cause injury or death, although researchers have found evidence of inflammation of the walls of the proventriculus after the first session of force-feeding. There is also indication of inflammation of the esophagus in the later stages of fattening. Several studies have also demonstrated that mortality rates can be significantly elevated during the gavage period.”Source Wikipedia
The ALDF (the same anti-foie group that sued Napa restaurant La Toque) had argued that foie gras is “a diseased product unfit for human consumption,” and asked the court to step in and order the USDA to “remove foie gras from the American food supply.”
In the ruling (warning: PDF), U.S. District JudgeOtis Wright explains his decision to dismiss the case: “Plaintiffs‘ voluminous submission of technical papers and data supports the Court’s view that Plaintiffs are challenging a scientific conclusion and not a legal one … this is an issue falling squarely under the USDA’s discretion by law.”
Although selling and producing foie gras is still illegal in California, the ALDF is not entitled to judicial review on this case so, for now, the rest of the country can rest easily knowing their foie is safe. “For those who partake in this delicacy…I hope it fxxxxg chokes you!”
“Regards the recent news from Germany to outlaw Bestiality…this post has a little more information in than the original one, thought you might be interested”
Ilse Aigner, the German agriculture minister, is reversing a 1969 decision to legalise zoophilia. Photograph: Gon Alo Silva/Demotix/Corbis
Germany is to introduce a ban on bestiality with a revision ofanimal welfare law that will reverse a decision in 1969 to legalise zoophilia.
Animal rights groups have called for the practice to be recognised as animal defilement and rape, using dramatic photographs of animals being cruelly treated by humans for sexualpurposes to put pressure on the German government.
Zoophiles, or those who practise bestiality, argue that they treat animals as equals and never force them to do anything against their will.
“We are going to take legal action to fight this,” said Michael Kiok, chairman of the pressure group Zoophile Engagement for Tolerance and Information (Zeta), which has about 100 members. “Central to the beliefs of zoophiles is that we don’t do anything that the animal doesn’t want. “How can one know the animal doesn’t want to, those poor animals used will obviously conform, they will have learnt or been trained to react in a certain way…but try it with a dog who hasn’t & your probably going to get a nasty bite!”
We do not treat them cruelly. An animal is quite capable of showing precisely what it wants and does not want. When I look at my dog I know immediately what it wants. Animals are much easier to understand than women,” he said.“WTF…how the hell can an animal tell you it wants to $£%$(&*()£^£()+_- ?? It’s ridiculous, I bet all of the members are ugly (the ones I have seen so far are!) with beer bellies & foul breath, they can’t get a women, that’s their problem!”
The centre-right government ofAngela Merkel, which has shaped the law change, said keyto the new legislation was recognising that sexwith humans was “inappropriate” for animals. “Of course it is, any sane person is disgusted just at the thought of it!”
According to Hans-Michael Goldmann, chairman of the parliamentary agricultural committee which will discuss the law on Wednesday before a final vote in the Bundestag on 14 December,animals should not be used “for personal sexual activities or made available to third parties for sexual activities … thereby forcing them to behave in ways that are inappropriate to their species”. “Exactly, forcing them to act in a way that is totally unnatural & unacceptable. Both parties in a sexual relationship must agree to have sex, if one does not but is forced or cohered into doing so, then it is classed as rape!”
Animal rights’ campaigners welcomed the ban, but said it was being used to divert attention from more widespread and pressing animal rights issues. “We welcome the new amendment (to the law) to ban sodomy,” said Thomas Schröder, president of the German Animal Welfare Association (DTSB). “But this achievement in the animal welfare struggle cannot be used as an excuse to conceal other urgent animal rights questions“. “No it can’t, so we the public, will keep up the pressure, until such things are changed!”
Agriculture minister Ilse Aigner was said to have introduced the amendment to appease animal rights campaigners angry that more is not being done to tackle perceived animal rights abuses in theagricultural industry. Campaigners want bans on cutting off piglets’ tails, and the castration of piglets and branding of horses without anaesthesia. In the end Aigner has affected a change only on the issue of castration, but not until 2018, when the practice will only be allowed to be carried out under local anaesthetic. “There is much work to be done to put all the wrongs humans do to animals, right, this we know. Especially in the agricultural industry as animals have always been seen as objects without feelings; but it is changing slowly for the better!”
Kiok, 52, a university librarian from Münster, southern Germany, who lives with his 8½-year-oldAlsatian called Cessie in what he calls a relationship, said zoophiles had been “put on the sacrificial altar of a lazy compromise“. Estimating there are about 100,000 active zoophiles in Germany, he said the group remained deeply misunderstood.“Of course it’s misunderstood because normal people don’t see animals as sexual partners!”
“We don’t have anything to do with people who abuse animals,” he said. “We only want what’s best for the animal. “It cannot be that the mutually gratifying sexual contact between human and animal is forbidden because it’s unfavourable to the species, but the abuse of animals in the agricultural industry continues.” “What’s best for the animal is for human sexual predators to stay away from them. One can not say sex between human & animal is mutual, because animals can’t tell you otherwise.”
He said he had received death threats from campaigners who were threatening to remove his dog. The protesters posted on Facebook that they had the addresses of 800 zoophiles and would campaign to have their pets taken from them. “Humans who only see other humans as sexual partners will of course think pets are better away from those who interfere with them!”
Koik said he had been through years of therapy and despair due to his zoophilia, only discovering on the internet the “huge number of zoophiles, especially in the US,” he said. “It was a relief to feel I wasn’t a monster as I’d heard for much of my life,” he said.“Of course other people who dabble in bestiality, zoophiles, sodomy etc. are going to stick together & confirm what they do is not wrong etc.; as do those of us who think what they do, is totally wrong!”
“YES YES YES YES…..THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO SIGNED THE PETITIONS ETC…. THEY HAVE BEEN TAKING NOTICE; BUT WE MUST CONTINUE TO SIGN UNTIL ALL ANIMALS ARE PROTECTED FROM HUMAN SEXUAL PREDATORS.”
“This is terrific new’s, Hans-Michael Goldmann, please do the right thing & forbid this disgraceful, sinful, disgusting & immoral habit.
BERLIN, Nov 26 – Germany is set to tighten its laws against bestiality in a bid to improve animal welfare, a lawmaker involved in drafting the legislation said on Monday.
Bestiality was removed from Germany’s penal code in 1969 and since then has only been against the law if “significant harm” is inflicted on the animal.
But Hans-Michael Goldmann, head of the parliamentary commission looking into the subject, told AFP he wanted to “ban bestiality in a draft law on animal protection”. “My new Hero”
According to left-leaning daily Tageszeitung (TAZ), the new legislation will make bestiality punishable by a fine of up to 25,000 euros (Sh2.7 million).
The act will no longer depend on whether harm is inflicted, but rather on whether the animal is forced to commit “actions alien to the species” according to the draft legislation. “Are not most animals forced into these sexual relations with humans? They wouldn’t normally want to perform sex with a human!!”
A spokesman for the agriculture ministry told a regular government briefing that the new legislation aims to clarify the legal position.
“With this explicit ban, it will be easier to impose penalties and to improve animal protection,” Goldmann told mass circulation Bild. “Improve animal protection… that’s what we like to hear”
But the president of a group representing people who engage in the act of bestiality said he would take legal action. “This group is called ZETA…If they do we will double take it, bunch of sickening perverted Neanderthals”
“It is unthinkable that any sexual act with an animal is punished without proof that the animal has come to any harm,” Michael Kiok said in an interview with the TAZ.
Zoophiles are up in arms.“We will take legal action against this,” Michael Kiok, chairman of zoophile pressure group ZETA (Zoophile Engagement for Tolerance and Information), told SPIEGEL ONLINE. “We see animals as partners and not as a means of gratification. We don’t force them to do anything.”
He said sex with pets wasn’t demeaning to the animals, and that they make it evident if they’re not interested.
“People have tried to create the false impression that we hurt animals,” said Kiok, who lives with an Alsatian called Cessie. He said he has had special feelings for animals ever since he was four or five and that the fascination took on erotic elements in his teens.
Still Legal in Denmark
Sex with animals has been banned in a number of European countries including France, Switzerland and even the liberal Netherlands. Sweden is preparing a ban too, said Kiok. “But it’s still legal in Denmark.”
In most cases, the sexual partners are likely to be dogs because they are such common pets now. In the days of old, it used to be cows, horses, sheeps, goats and pigs, said Kiok.
Sexual research in the 1940s suggested that 5 to 8 percent of men and 3 to 5 percent of women engaged in zoophilia. “That would put the figure in Germany at 1.6 million but that’s definitely too high. Taking a wild guess, I’d say it’s well over 100,000,” said Kiok.
He criticized the planned legal amendment because it still didn’t ban the unanesthetized castration of piglets in the meat processing industry, or the branding of horses. He also said the farming industry sexually abuses animals by allowing breeders to ram electric rods into the backsides of boars to make them ejaculate, and tying up mares so that they can be mounted by stallions.
Kiok knows what his first priority will be if the law is passed in parliament: “I’m going to make sure I keep my dog.” “Well that tells you what he intends to carry on doing…doesn’t it!”
“The sign below is the ZETA logo, so zoophiles can recognise one another!”
“Related articles: Below are just a few of the posts regards bestiality…Please click the last one which has the best petitions to sign. We also need Animal Abuse Registry’s…you will find a petition for this within the lick. Please keep signing & passing along…we must stop sentient beings having their innocence taken away by human sex pests.”
(I know, I know, I am behind with a lot of posts, so some news has been & gone… I’m going as fast as I physically can do… 🙂 )
“I honestly don’t think anybody should have the right to own & especially breed wild animals. If want to see a wild animal then go to its habitat instead of being lazy & growing one in your backyard!”
COLUMBUS, Ohio(AP) — Four owners of exotic animals in Ohio are suing the state’s agriculture department and its director over a new law regulating dangerous wildlife, contending the restrictions threaten their First Amendment and property rights.
The lawsuit was filed Friday in Columbus federal court. It comes as the owners faced a Monday deadline to register their animals with the state.
In this Aug. 25, 2010 photo, Cyndi Huntsman poses in front of caged tigers at her Stump Hill Farm in Massillon, Ohio. Huntsman is one of four owners of exotic animals in Ohio suing the state’s agriculture department and its director over a new law regulating the dangerous wildlife. Photo: Mark Duncan / AP
The owners’ attorney said Monday that the state has agreed not to enforce certain provisions of the law until there’s a hearing on the lawsuit. Attorney Robert Owens said lawyers were still reviewing the agreement, but a court order detailing the arrangement was expected in the coming days.
For instance, under the agreement, Ohio officials wouldn’t refer owners for prosecution if they didn’t register their animals by Monday.
Under the law, owners who don’t register could face a first-degree misdemeanor charge for a first offense, and a fifth-degree felony for any subsequent offenses.
A spokeswoman for the agriculture department declined to comment on the lawsuit and the agreement.
The owners claim the law forces them to join private associations and possibly give up their animals without compensation. They also take issue with a requirement that the animals be implanted with a microchip before they’re registered, so the creatures can be identified if they get lost or escape.
The state has said it would work with owners on the microchip requirement.
As of Monday, Ohio’s agriculture department said it had received 130 registration forms accounting for 483 dangerous wild animals in the state.
In this Aug. 25, 2010 photo, Cyndi Huntsman holds a baby zebra at her Stump Hill Farm in Massillon, Ohio. Huntsman is one of four owners of exotic animals in Ohio suing the state’s agriculture department and its director over a new law regulating the dangerous wildlife. Photo: Mark Duncan / AP
Ohio’s restrictions on exotic animals had been among the nation’s weakest.
State lawmakers worked with a renewed sense of urgency to strengthen the law after owner Terry Thompson last fall released 50 creatures from an eastern Ohio farm in Zanesville before he committed suicide.
Authorities killed 48 of the animals, fearing for the public’s safety. Two others were presumed eaten by other animals. The six surviving animals were placed under quarantine at the zoo. Five were later returned to Thompson’s widow, Marian Thompson. The zoo had to euthanize one leopard.
Marian Thompson was among those who registered animals with the state. She submitted information for the two leopards, two primates and a bear that survived.
Registration forms obtained by The Associated Press through a public records request also show she has two 11-week-old leopards on the property.
The owners suing the state have multiple breeds of exotic animals. They are Terry Wilkins, who owns a reptile and amphibian store called Captive Born Reptiles in Columbus; Cyndi Huntsman, owner of Stump Hill Farm in Massillon; Mike Stapleton, owner of Paws & ClawsAnimal Sanctuary in Prospect; and Sean Trimbach, owner ofBest Exotics LLC in Medway, where he breeds, raises and sells exotic animals.
In their lawsuit, the owners say the cost of implanting a microchip in the animal can exceed the animal’s value. They also contend that joining certain groups to become exempt from the law means they would have to associate and fund organizations with which they disagree.
While the law took effect last month, some aspects have yet to kick in. For instance, a permit process for owners won’t begin until next October.
Current owners who want to keep their animals must obtain the new state-issued permit by Jan. 1, 2014. They must pass background checks, pay fees, obtain liability insurance or surety bonds, and show inspectors that they can properly contain the animal and care for it.
One of the factors of obtaining of permit includes timely registration.
If owners are denied permits or can’t meet the new requirements, the state can seize the animals.
The New Jersey Senateunanimously passedS1303, designated as Patrick’s Law, yesterday afternoon.
Patrick
The bill is named for thePit Bullnamed Patrick, who was rescued in 2011 after he was starved to the brink of death, then dumped down an apartment complextrash chute in Newark.
The proposed lawrevises penalties foranimal cruelty, toughening both civil and criminal penalties forabuse and neglect. Photographs of the emaciated dog with the big haunting eyes that accompanied his story rallied activists and the general public to the cause.
The bill increases tocrimes of the fourth degree the offenses of depriving an animal of necessary sustenance, or abusing an animal, and it increases the grade of these offenses to crimes of the third degree if the animal dies as a result of these acts. The civil penalty for these offenses will also be increased under the bill to a fine of $1,000 to $3,000 for a first offense, and $3,000 to $5,000 for a second or subsequent offense.
The bill will additionally increase the criminal and civil penalties for inflicting unnecessary cruelty upon a living animal or creature by any direct or indirect means, unnecessarily failing to provide a living animal with proper food, drink, shelter or protection from the weather, or leaving it unattended in a vehicle under inhumane conditions. The criminal penalty will be increased to a fine between $500 and $2,000,imprisonment for a term up to six months, or both, at the discretion of the court. If an animal is killed or dies as a result of one of these violations, or the person has a prior conviction, the person will be guilty of a crime of the fourth degree. The civil penalty recoverable will be a fine of between $500 and $2,000.
Court ordered restitution to the animal’s owner will include the monetary cost of replacing the animal, plus any costs for food, shelter, veterinary care, euthanasia, if necessary, or other costs.
The bill was sponsored by Senators Tom Kean Dick and Codey. It heads to the Assembly for consideration before it becomes law.
Senator Kean said in a statement after yesterday’s vote, “How someone treats animals in their care is a window into his or her soul. Caring for an animal comes with basic responsibilities that include finding a safe, humane environment for that animal if you cannot or do not wish to care for it any longer. Patrick’s Law will make the penalties for those who shirk those responsibilities appropriately more severe.”
A significant aspect of Patrick’s Law is its recognition of extreme neglect as an act of cruelty comparable to any other.
Patrick, called a miracle dog, recovered and continues to thrive.
DUE TO THE NATURE OF THIS BLOG - SOME PICTURES & VIDEOS CAN & WILL BE VERY GRAPHIC - SO PLEASE, VIEW THIS BLOG AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
You can find out more about me & this blog by reading "ABOUT THIS BLOG" on the menu (when i finish it) lol
PLEASE NOTE.....
Not all of my posts will be current news, or even about animal abuse! I do like to share other animal news, uplifting stories or videos; some that are funny or just touch the heart!
If I have anything to say on any post, you will see it in bold blue writing. I try to remain a lady, but it's hard to contain my anger & emotions at the some of the stories I post; I don’t have a heart of stone, tears stain many articles I write!
Lastly, my apologies for any errors; I am learning whilst posting, so if you find anything that doesn't work or a broken link, sorry, I'm only human!!!!
ABOUT THESE POSTS
I would just like to make readers aware, that I search for stories on the internet; regards animal abuse etc. I copy stories etc. from the internet; assuming these stories are correct at time of publishing. Having said that, sometimes the press get it wrong! So I just want to add that at the time of me posting a news story, I presume all the facts seem present & correct.
Please note....all people mentioned in this blog, are presumed innocent, until proven otherwise, in a court of law.
Error: Please make sure the Twitter account is public.
Flag Counter Added May 2012
Face Book – Please Take Notice
For anyone wishing to connect to me via my Facebook page...PLEASE NOTE, ONLY PEOPLE I ADD AS ANIMAL ADVOCATES CAN SEE MY WHOLE PAGE...I do this out of respect for those friends I have who do not wish to see graphic images, videos or links of animal abuse!
As 99% of my page is animal related; anyone not in the above group of friends; will only see a limited amount of posts!!
DUE TO ANIMAL HATERS...I WILL ONLY ADD PEOPLE WHO CAN PROVE WHO THEY ARE via Facebook, Wordpress, Twitter etc. & WHO HAVE A GENUINE INTEREST IN ANIMAL WELFARE... i.e. if your Facebook page has absolutely nothing to do with animals, I see no point in joining my page. My Facebook is solely for animal welfare, I am not interested in playing games etc. I don't mean to sound rude but I am not interested in the amount of friends I have, its the quality of those friends that count.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND REQUESTS FOR YOUR FRIENDS TO JOIN. I do not want anyone to be upset by graphic images etc.
My aim is to educate & raise awareness to the horrors animals face, at the hands of humans, every day, around the world!!
We can not hope to achieve better laws, to protect animals, unless we unite as one, to speak up for those who are voiceless!!
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DUE TO THE NATURE OF THIS BLOG - SOME PICTURES & VIDEOS CAN & WILL BE VERY GRAPHIC - SO PLEASE, VIEW THIS BLOG AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
STOP ANIMAL ABUSE 
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