May 9th, 7-9pm
Kitchener-Waterloo Humane Society
THINK (Talking Humanely – Information & New Knowledge): “Living with Wildlife” presented by Bernice Copeland of Humane Wildlife Control. Session is free (but donations are always appreciated). Tickets will be available on a first come, first serve basis so get yours early (at the reception desk).
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May 17th, 12 noon
Multi-Purpose Room, Student Life Centre, UW
Wildlife rehabilitation and fostering are a key part of the Kitchener
Waterloo Community. Join Us as licensed practitioner working as animal rehabbers in the field speak with us on their experiences and
responsibilities, tips for animal care, what to do if you find an animal
that requires care, and the environmental choices we need make as
conscious citizens living amongst animals. In support of wildlife awareness, feel free to bring and donate peanuts, dried fruits or apples to help feed the animals the care of rehabbers. Free. All are welcome.
Wednesday, 9 May 2007
roadside zoos are not animal sanctuaries
FROM NIAGARA ACTION FOR ANIMALS:
Dear NAfA member,
The Exotic Animal Refuge Sanctuary (TEARS), has applied to the Regional Municipality of Niagara to build a public display facility in Thorold at the corner of Kottmeier and Holland Roads.
After reviewing documents submitted to the planning department by the applicants, it is our opinion (and the opinions of Zoocheck Canada and WSPA) that the proposed facility is NOT in the best interest of animals.
TEARS, formerly known as Kris’ Reptiles (an exotic animal pet shop in St. Catharines), has previously displayed their animals at various public venues, including air shows and parades, to raise money for the sanctuary. It is now their intention to keep a number of large animals, such as lions, tigers and primates, and several reptile and bird species, at the Thorold location for public display and breeding purposes.
In a statement by TEARS, the facility would be open to the general public, tourists and special interest groups for a “donation” and the animals would be bred so “our great grandchildren can enjoy these animals and not just be seeing them in books.” TEARS also plans to provide animals for “TV commercials, movies and special promotions…a very lucrative market we are currently involved with.”
This sounds more like a for-profit roadside zoo, than a non-profit animal sanctuary. True animal sanctuaries are not open to the public, they do not engage in captive breeding programs and they don’t rent their animals out for film and television work.
For example, the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada, states on its website that “The DSC does not buy, sell or breed donkeys, mules or hinnies.” At The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, elephants “are not required to perform or entertain for the public; instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants. As a true sanctuary, The Elephant Sanctuary is not intended to provide entertainment.” The Elephant Sanctuary is closed to the public, relying on interactive video and multimedia computer technology, as well as wildlife documentary films and other outreach programs to educate children.
We need you to write letters to the Mayor and the Region asking them to reject TEARS’ application to open up a roadside zoo in Thorold. Some concerns you may want to address (keep it simple – only one or two points) include (in your own words please):
1) Close-up and “hands on” interactions with potentially dangerous animals jeopardizes public safety. Disease transmission is also a concern when humans come into contact with wild animals, especially primates, which can carry diseases fatal to humans. An animal escaping its enclosure also puts the community at risk (escapes are common at even the most established zoos).
2) Exhibits are often far too small to meet the animals’ physical and behavioural needs. Insufficient space can also be frustrating for animals that have adapted to living in large, open areas. Inappropriate social arrangements can also be detrimental to the animals’ mental well-being. Naturally social animals, like primates, are often kept isolated while solitary animals, such as tigers, are forced to live with others. .
3) Children today are learning about the importance of animals in their natural habitats and ecosystems. Seeing animals in cages does little to educate children about the animals’ natural lives, and undermines what they learn in the classroom.
4) Putting animals on display for human entertainment reinforces the belief that animals are here to serve our needs and desires. This ideology ignores the groundbreaking work of scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall, who recognize that animals are thinking, feeling individuals deserving of our respect and compassion.
5) Real sanctuaries do not keep their animals confined to cages, or breed and exploit animals for financial gain. True conservation efforts include preserving the species’ natural habitat and reintroducing animals to the wild. If there is no reintroduction program, then captive breeding only benefits the exotic pet trade industry.
Send your letters to:
Mayor Henry D’Angela
City of Thorold
3540 Schmon Parkway, P.O. Box 1044
Thorold, ON
L2V 4V7
email: mayor@thorold.com
Peter Colosimo
Senior Planner
Planning and Development Department
Regional Municipality of Niagara
2201 St. David’s Road, P.O. Box 1042
Thorold, ON
L2V 4T7
email: plan@regional.niagara.on.ca
Ms. Adele Arbour
Director of Planning & Building Services
Planning and Building Services Department
City of Thorold
3540 Schmon Parkway, P.O. Box 1044
Thorold, ON
L2V 4V7
email: aarbour@thorold.com
Dear NAfA member,
The Exotic Animal Refuge Sanctuary (TEARS), has applied to the Regional Municipality of Niagara to build a public display facility in Thorold at the corner of Kottmeier and Holland Roads.
After reviewing documents submitted to the planning department by the applicants, it is our opinion (and the opinions of Zoocheck Canada and WSPA) that the proposed facility is NOT in the best interest of animals.
TEARS, formerly known as Kris’ Reptiles (an exotic animal pet shop in St. Catharines), has previously displayed their animals at various public venues, including air shows and parades, to raise money for the sanctuary. It is now their intention to keep a number of large animals, such as lions, tigers and primates, and several reptile and bird species, at the Thorold location for public display and breeding purposes.
In a statement by TEARS, the facility would be open to the general public, tourists and special interest groups for a “donation” and the animals would be bred so “our great grandchildren can enjoy these animals and not just be seeing them in books.” TEARS also plans to provide animals for “TV commercials, movies and special promotions…a very lucrative market we are currently involved with.”
This sounds more like a for-profit roadside zoo, than a non-profit animal sanctuary. True animal sanctuaries are not open to the public, they do not engage in captive breeding programs and they don’t rent their animals out for film and television work.
For example, the Donkey Sanctuary of Canada, states on its website that “The DSC does not buy, sell or breed donkeys, mules or hinnies.” At The Elephant Sanctuary in Hohenwald, Tennessee, elephants “are not required to perform or entertain for the public; instead, they are encouraged to live like elephants. As a true sanctuary, The Elephant Sanctuary is not intended to provide entertainment.” The Elephant Sanctuary is closed to the public, relying on interactive video and multimedia computer technology, as well as wildlife documentary films and other outreach programs to educate children.
We need you to write letters to the Mayor and the Region asking them to reject TEARS’ application to open up a roadside zoo in Thorold. Some concerns you may want to address (keep it simple – only one or two points) include (in your own words please):
1) Close-up and “hands on” interactions with potentially dangerous animals jeopardizes public safety. Disease transmission is also a concern when humans come into contact with wild animals, especially primates, which can carry diseases fatal to humans. An animal escaping its enclosure also puts the community at risk (escapes are common at even the most established zoos).
2) Exhibits are often far too small to meet the animals’ physical and behavioural needs. Insufficient space can also be frustrating for animals that have adapted to living in large, open areas. Inappropriate social arrangements can also be detrimental to the animals’ mental well-being. Naturally social animals, like primates, are often kept isolated while solitary animals, such as tigers, are forced to live with others. .
3) Children today are learning about the importance of animals in their natural habitats and ecosystems. Seeing animals in cages does little to educate children about the animals’ natural lives, and undermines what they learn in the classroom.
4) Putting animals on display for human entertainment reinforces the belief that animals are here to serve our needs and desires. This ideology ignores the groundbreaking work of scientists like Dr. Jane Goodall, who recognize that animals are thinking, feeling individuals deserving of our respect and compassion.
5) Real sanctuaries do not keep their animals confined to cages, or breed and exploit animals for financial gain. True conservation efforts include preserving the species’ natural habitat and reintroducing animals to the wild. If there is no reintroduction program, then captive breeding only benefits the exotic pet trade industry.
Send your letters to:
Mayor Henry D’Angela
City of Thorold
3540 Schmon Parkway, P.O. Box 1044
Thorold, ON
L2V 4V7
email: mayor@thorold.com
Peter Colosimo
Senior Planner
Planning and Development Department
Regional Municipality of Niagara
2201 St. David’s Road, P.O. Box 1042
Thorold, ON
L2V 4T7
email: plan@regional.niagara.on.ca
Ms. Adele Arbour
Director of Planning & Building Services
Planning and Building Services Department
City of Thorold
3540 Schmon Parkway, P.O. Box 1044
Thorold, ON
L2V 4V7
email: aarbour@thorold.com
Saturday, 5 May 2007
animal rights activists are not terrorists
Now that Herbivore magazine has gone online, the print version has morphed into a wonderful little twice yearly book. The first of these (issue 13, carrying on from previous print editions) is devoted to stories of activism.
Despite the fact that I am well aware of the atrocities enacted upon animal life on a daily basis, reading about and seeing pictures of specific examples always horrifies me anew. But the most disturbing narrative in #13 was actually one dealing with the treatment of people - the US government's labelling of animal activists as terrorists. More specifically, the imprisonment of six activists from SHAC 7 who were convicted, not of damaging property or intimidating people, but running a website that publicized the actions (both legal and illegal) in the campaign to shut down a medical lab devoted to torturing animals instead of improving the conditions of human life.
The bitter reality of this situation became clearer this week with reports of the arrest of 32 animal rights activists in Europe. Manufacturing fear is not just an American preoccupation. Apparently Brits, Belgians and the Dutch are also involved in creating an animal activist boogeyman, another terrorist lurking round the corner. Law makers and enforcers talk about activists producing a climate of fear, when really it's the establishment that uses such scapegoats to scare the average citizen and distract him or her from the real problems in society.
I am deeply, deeply concerned about the protective net the government is casting around the companies that make their millions by exploiting, tormenting, vivisecting, burning, caging, poisoning, brutally murdering (the list goes on and on) animals. Safeguarding their parasitic practices and blood money is a higher priority than respecting life. This attitude has led to many of the world's most monumental atrocities. Have we not learned? I fear we have not, but I keep trying to hope that we still can.
Issue 13 begins with an essay/lecture ("Turtle Talk") by pattrice jones on the difference between violence and necessary force - like the difference between pushing a child down the stairs and pushing a child out of the path of an oncoming car. Violence is never acceptable but some situations demand the use of necessary force, she argues.
---
Tonight on Kill Eat Exploit the Weak: local rowdy rockers Lucky Number Ten.
Despite the fact that I am well aware of the atrocities enacted upon animal life on a daily basis, reading about and seeing pictures of specific examples always horrifies me anew. But the most disturbing narrative in #13 was actually one dealing with the treatment of people - the US government's labelling of animal activists as terrorists. More specifically, the imprisonment of six activists from SHAC 7 who were convicted, not of damaging property or intimidating people, but running a website that publicized the actions (both legal and illegal) in the campaign to shut down a medical lab devoted to torturing animals instead of improving the conditions of human life.
The bitter reality of this situation became clearer this week with reports of the arrest of 32 animal rights activists in Europe. Manufacturing fear is not just an American preoccupation. Apparently Brits, Belgians and the Dutch are also involved in creating an animal activist boogeyman, another terrorist lurking round the corner. Law makers and enforcers talk about activists producing a climate of fear, when really it's the establishment that uses such scapegoats to scare the average citizen and distract him or her from the real problems in society.
I am deeply, deeply concerned about the protective net the government is casting around the companies that make their millions by exploiting, tormenting, vivisecting, burning, caging, poisoning, brutally murdering (the list goes on and on) animals. Safeguarding their parasitic practices and blood money is a higher priority than respecting life. This attitude has led to many of the world's most monumental atrocities. Have we not learned? I fear we have not, but I keep trying to hope that we still can.
Issue 13 begins with an essay/lecture ("Turtle Talk") by pattrice jones on the difference between violence and necessary force - like the difference between pushing a child down the stairs and pushing a child out of the path of an oncoming car. Violence is never acceptable but some situations demand the use of necessary force, she argues.
---
Tonight on Kill Eat Exploit the Weak: local rowdy rockers Lucky Number Ten.
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