[HelptheAnimals] T.V. ALERT: Tuesday, January 30, 2007 - Boston Legal and animal rights activists
BOSTON LEGAL Animal Rights! Tonight 1-30-07 ABC -- Check local listing The ABC Network takes feedback here: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html Thanks Karen and Marsha! on 1/30/07 1:04 PM, DawnWatch at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Thanks to Marsha Rubin for this tip about tonight's (1/30/07) episode of Boston Legal, on ABC at 10pm (Check local listings): An irate Denny thunders to Bella's aid when she is attacked by animal-rights activists, but the conflict becomes personal when his ex-girlfriend--Bella's diminutive daughter Bethany--represents the protestors. (Note to those outside the US -- I send this to my whole list, not just US, knowing that though the air dates differ, those in other countries also see Boston Legal and may wish to keep an eye out for this episode.) Boston Legal has a message board where you can comment: http://forums.go.com/abc/primetime/bostonlegal/forum?start=0forumID=35 It would be nice to see lots of pro-AR comments up there. I have no idea how this episode will go. We can be sure Denny Crane will be obnoxious, as his character always is (and generally funny too). But Boston Crane has a good history on animal issues, having done a superb job in 2005 of calling attention to the government's Mad Cow cover up. (See http://www.dawnwatch.com/2-05_Animal_Media_Alerts.htm#BOSTON for a detailed DawnWatch alert on that episode.) Animal rights issues might get a decent hearing in tonight's episode -- or not -- we'll see. The ABC Network takes feedback here: http://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html One of the best things animal advocates can do for the animals is to maintain constant warm and constructive contact with the media. Yours and the animals', Karen Dawn (DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. You may forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this parenthesized tag line.)
[HelptheAnimals] WSJ: Smithfield to Phase Out Crates
AnimalVoicesNews Source/Letters: Wall Street Journal wsj.ltrs @ wsj.com (close spaces) Link: http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB116969807556687337-lMyQjAxMDE3NjI5NTYy OTU4Wj.html Note: Thanks to Karen Dawn for the link to this article. DawnWatch is attached. Smithfield to Phase Out Crates Big Pork Producer Yields To Activists, Customers On Animal-Welfare Issue By LAUREN ETTER lauren.etter @ wsj.com (close spaces) January 25, 2007; Page A14 (See Corrections Amplifications item below.) Smithfield Foods Inc., the nation's largest pork producer, plans to announce today that it will phase out gestation crates at all of its company-owned sow farms over the next decade. The company has come under fire by animal-rights activists in recent years over the crates, where some female pigs can spend most of their lives. The issue also played a role in last year's midterm elections. Smithfield is the first major pork producer to move to ban the crates, but the company's efforts may not be fast enough for critics. It's a big step, says Bernard Rollin, a professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and animal-rights researcher. But it's not quick enough. Groups such as the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, say it is inhumane to keep the sows -- female pigs -- in the crates during their 16-week gestation period, because they can't turn around, walk or stretch their legs. The crates are typically two feet wide by seven feet long. At the peak of their gestation, sows can weigh as much as 600 pounds. When a sow is ready to give birth, she is moved to a farrowing crate to give birth and then reintroduced to the crate shortly later when she becomes pregnant again by artificial insemination. Activists also say that pigs are intelligent animals that develop compulsive behaviors while kept in the crates, such as chewing on cage bars and obsessively pressing against water bottles, according to a PETA Web site. Speaking of the crates, Mr. Rollins says: If you see one you'll never forget it. Smithfield will replace the crates with group housing, where the animals can socialize with one another. The pens will hold between six and 55 sows, depending on the size of the barn, according to the company. The crates at Smithfield's farms will be phased out completely by 2017. The company also contracts with farms. At those farms crates will have to be phased out by 2027. The transformation to pens from crates is expected to be costly, but Smithfield declined to estimate how much it would spend. Smithfield says its customers, including McDonald's Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., have been increasingly asking the company to get rid of the crates. Customers have expressed their desire to have a different form of sow housing, said Dennis Treacy, vice president of environmental and corporate affairs at Smithfield. This is a significant step forward for animal welfare, said Frank Muschetto, senior vice president at McDonald's, in a statement. Animal welfare is an integral part of McDonald's corporate social responsibility efforts and supply chain practices. Sow crates became a hot-button issue during last year's midterm election. Arizona voters passed an initiative, called the Humane Treatment of Farm Animals Act, which requires farmers to house sows in pens larger than the gestation crates. In 2002 Florida passed a similar regulation. The gestation crates are banned in Europe. This is somewhat of a risky move for Smithfield since its independent producers could bear the cost of transforming their barns to the new pen standard. Smithfield doesn't have any sow farms in Arizona, but other pork producers balked at the initiative in that state. A group of pork producers called Campaign for Arizona Farmers Ranchers posted large yellow and black signs stating HOGWASH along Arizona highways. Smithfield has 187 sow farms -- facilities where pregnant pigs are raised -- across the country. Smithfield says the crates were originally used to protect the pig while pregnant, and to keep the animal clean. The company says new research shows that keeping sows in pens rather than crates doesn't interfere with the animals' ability to give birth. Write to Lauren Etter at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Corrections Amplifications: The last name of Bernard Rollin, a professor of philosophy at Colorado State University and an animal-rights researcher, is incorrectly spelled Rollins on second reference in this article. Copyright © 2007 Dow Jones Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved ~ This is distibuted for nonprofit research and educational purposes only. [Ref.http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html] You are invited to read past articles and alerts, subscribe, or unsubscribe or email with subject subscribe or unsubscribe. BushWatchersNews: http://groups-beta.google.com/groups?q=bushwatchernewsstart=0scoring=d AnimalVoicesAlerts:http://groups-beta.google.com/group/AnimalVoicesAlerts
[HelptheAnimals] 'She's alive!' Perky is one tough bird. (1 Photo) (3 pieces)
AnimalVoicesNews Source: (AP) Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16866547/ Photo Below Refrigerator duck plays Lazarus again Bird that lived 2 days in fridge after being shot flat-lines in surgery, revives FREE VIDEO Duck still alive after brushes with death (Video at Link) Jan. 29: A ring-necked duck nicknamed Perky is garnering international fame after surviving at least three brushes with death. Mike Vasilinda reports. NBC News Channel Updated: 3:26 p.m. MT Jan 29, 2007 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Call her Lazarus and then some. The ring-neck duck has been shot by a hunter, rescued from two days in a refrigerator by his wife and in its latest brush with death resuscitated on a veterinarian's operating table. The one-pound female duck stopped breathing Saturday during an operation to repair gunshot damage to her wing, said Noni Beck of Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. Veterinarian David Hale performed CPR and managed to get the fractured fowl breathing again after several tense moments. I started crying, 'She's alive!' Beck said. Perky grabbed national attention last week after a hunter's wife opened her refrigerator door and the supposedly dead duck lifted its head and looked at her. The duck had been in the fridge for two days since it was shot and mistaken for dead on Jan. 15. Click for related content Shot duck survives 2 days in refrigerator (below) Perky, who now has a pin in hers wing, will probably not undergo any more surgery because of a sensitivity to anesthesia, Hale said. The duck is recovering from its latest ordeal. © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. © 2007 MSNBC.com © 2007 Microsoft ~ Source: (AP) Link: http://www.startribune.com/217/story/965516.html 'She's alive!': Duck ducks death a third time Perky is one tough bird. Last update: January 29, 2007 7:19 AM Perky is one tough bird. The ringneck duck survived being shot and spending two days in a hunter's refrigerator -- and now she's had a close brush with death on a veterinarian's operating table. The one-pound female duck stopped breathing Saturday during surgery to repair gunshot damage to one wing, said Noni Beck of the Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary in Tallahassee, Fla. Veterinarian David Hale revived the bird by performing CPR. Said Beck: I started crying, 'She's alive!' Perky entered the headlines last week after a hunter's wife opened her refrigerator door and the should've-been-dead duck lifted its head and looked at her. The bird had been in the fridge for two days since being shot and presumed killed Jan. 15. Perky is recovering with a pin installed in the fractured wing, and probably will not have more surgery because of her sensitivity to anesthesia, Hale said. ASSOCIATED PRESS Copyright 2007 Star Tribune. All rights reserved. 425 Portland Av. S., Minneapolis, MN 55488 (612) 673-4000 ~ Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16725051/ Shot duck survives 2 days in refrigerator Updated: 4:31 p.m. MT Jan 20, 2007 TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Neither gunfire nor two days in a refrigerator could slay this duck. When the wife of the hunter who shot it opened the refrigerator door, the duck lifted its head, giving her a scare. The man¹s wife ³was going to check on the refrigerator because it hadn¹t been working right and when she opened the door, it looked up at her,² said Laina Whipple, a receptionist at Killearn Animal Hospital. ³She freaked out and told the daughter to take it to the hospital right then and there.² The 1-pound female ringneck ended up at Goose Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, where it has been treated since Tuesday for wounds to its wing and leg. Sanctuary veterinarian David Hale said it has about a 75 percent chance of survival, but probably won¹t ever be well enough to be released back into the wild. He said the duck, which has a low metabolism, could have survived in a big enough refrigerator, especially if the door was opened and closed several times. And he said he understands how the hunter thought the duck was dead. ³This duck is very passive,² Hale said. ³It¹s not like trying to pick up a Muscovy at Lake Ella, where you put your life in your hands.² © 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. © 2007 MSNBC.com © 2007 Microsoft ~ This is distibuted for nonprofit research and educational purposes only. [Ref.http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html]
