DawnWatch

DawnWatch: NY Times features bear bile farming 5/22/13

2013-05-22T16:10:39Z

(Note: Link to Mark Bittman's latest, "Why I'm Not a Vegan" is below.)

The Wednesday, May 22, New York Times includes an article (page A8) on the hideous practice of bear-bile farming. The piece, by Andrew Jacobs, is titled, "Folk Remedy Extracted From Captive Bears Stirs Furor in China." The video story, "A Controversial Cure," which accompanies the article on the web, is superb. You'll find the story and video on line at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/22/world/asia/chinese-bear-bile-farming-draws-charges-of-cruelty.html
OR http://tinyurl.com/oaoxlyg

Bear bile farming involves keeping bears virtually immobilized in crates, for years. They live with catheters permanently inserted into their abdomens, tubes reaching out through the bars and draining their bile into buckets.

We learn, unfortunately, that the bear bile market has been growing rather than declining:
"To the distress of its opponents, the industry has grown significantly in the 13 years since Chinese officials first pledged to gradually reduce the number of captive bears to 1,500 from 7,000. These days, there are an estimated 20,000 bears on nearly 100 domestic bear farms, an expansion fueled in part by marketing efforts promoting novel uses for bear bile, like a hangover cure for well-to-do businessmen who engage in nightly carousing."

But we also learn that the opposition is strengthening and attracting celebrity support. We read about Guizhentang Pharmaceutical, the country’s largest producer of bear bile extract:

"Guizhentang’s proposal to triple the company’s stock of captive bears, to 1,200 from 400, provoked a firestorm from those opposed to bear bile farming, a process that involves inserting tubes into the abdomens of bears and 'milking' them, sometimes for years.

"Protesters in bear suits picketed drugstores, hackers briefly brought down Guizhentang’s Web site and more than 70 Chinese celebrities, including the basketball star Yao Ming and the pop diva Han Hong, circulated a petition calling on the stock exchange to reject the I.P.O.

"After some of China’s biggest news media outlets posted harrowing undercover footage revealing cages so tight the bears could barely move, Guizhentang last month withdrew its application, saying it needed more time to put together its filing."

You can comment below the story and send a letter to the editor about this or any aspect of our treatment of other species. The story provides the perfect opportunity to speak up for the animals. Send your letter to letters@nytimes.com, making sure to include your name, address and telephone number.

And please visit http://www.animalsasia.org/ to learn more about this issue, see gorgeous video of rescued bears, and support the organization's work to help end this practice.
-----------------------------
I noted above that I would link you to Mark Bittman's latest, oddly titled, blog, "Why I'm Not a Vegan."
It's here:
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/why-im-not-a-vegan
It is oddly titled because, despite that unfortunately negative but attention grabbing headline, the blog actually gives us numerous arguments for being vegan and doesn't really explain why Bittman chooses only to be "Vegan Before 6pm" or VB6, as his new book recommends, rather than full time. While I look at things differently than Bittner, as I assume most people who receive DawnWatch alerts do, I do appreciate the way his work brings the benefits of the vegan lifestyle to mainstream attention. Check the blog out and comment below it.

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. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which will give you background on any issue covered by DawnWatch. When it was first published in 2008 it was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Wed May 22 16:10:39 2013

DawnWatch: Stunning coverage of mustang round-ups on NBC's Today Show 5/14/13

2013-05-14T19:16:26Z

NBC's Today Show has aired a stunning story on the wild mustang round-ups carried out by the Bureau of Land Management. It is heartbreaking to watch but so important for people to see. The segment makes it clear that the mustangs are driven off the land to appease the cattle ranching industry. And we hear from that industry, for example when one of the ranchers is asked what should happen to the mustangs, he says, "Let 'em go to slaughterhouses. What value are they now?"

I understand that the story, titled "Cruel or Necessary? The true cost of wild horse roundups" was originally scheduled for an April air-date (as the URL link suggests) then pre-empted by Roger Ebert's death. It finally aired this morning, Tuesday May 14. You can watch it on line at http://openchannel.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/03/17588942-cruel-or-necessary-the-true-cost-of-wild-horse-roundups?lite

OR watch it at this Tiny URL http://tinyurl.com/cm8fs64

After you watch that story, you may wish to scroll down the page to "related stories" and check them out as they are superb and go into more detail than the segment that aired on this morning.

Please make sure to thank reporter Lisa Myers and the Today Show for such superb coverage. The Today Show takes comments at http://www.today.com/id/29041920/ns/today/

(I send thanks to Jackie Raven for making sure we saw it.)

Then please go to http://stepinsally.com/ and sign the letter asking the new Interior Secretary, Sally Jewell, to change the system. She needs to know that this is an issue people care about.

And finally, share this with all of your friends. People should know what they are supporting when they eat beef.

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. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which will give you background on any issue covered by DawnWatch. When it was first published in 2008 it was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Tue May 14 19:16:26 2013

Dawnwatch: Stunning special on pig farms on CTV's W5. 5/11/13

2013-05-11T18:56:36Z

W5, Canada's most highly rated weekly news magazine show, which airs on Canada's top-rated network, CTV, has done a stunning special on pig farms. It features video from an undercover investigation conducted by Canada's new branch of Mercy for Animals. What's particularly compelling is that rather than focusing on specific egregious instances (of beatings, for example) the show looks at the institutionalized cruelty that is the factory farming system. The producers note that much of what we are seeing -- gestation crate housing for example -- is illegal in other countries, such as countries in the European Union. But the system we see is still also used in the US and Australia.

The show is compellingly put together. If you find it too hard to watch then please check it out just long enough to share it on Facebook and Twitter and via email with your friends. (If you happen to still eat pork I ask you please not to allow yourself the luxury of sparing your eyes from what the pigs you purchase must endure with their bodies.)

Watch it at and share it from
http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/undercover-investigation-reveals-disturbing-and-inhumane-treatment-of-factory-farm-animals-1.1070919
OR this TinyURL: http://tinyurl.com/cgvfnhb

And please thank W5 for having the guts to air it. As we hear on the program, Canadians have never before been widely exposed to this kind of video.

The Mercy for Animals investigator made it clear, towards the end of the second half of the program, that the way to stop this abuse is to stop eating animals. What a great message -- and how great that the reporter, Tom Kennedy, and the producers included that line as part of the final story. Challenged as to the likelihood of everybody dong that (I am sure some people will after watching that show) the investigator said that what everybody can agree on right now is that the current system must end.
Please send thanks to W5 for fantastic coverage.
The show takes feedback via email at W5@ctv.ca

I send thanks to Joan Sinden for emailing me as she was watching the show so that I knew to tell everybody to watch it, and share it, on the web.

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. If forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was first published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Sat May 11 18:56:36 2013

Dawnwatch: NY Times Business front page on investing in alternatives to animal foods 4/29/13

2013-04-29T17:17:58Z

Big smile time. On the front page of the New York Times business section, B1, Monday, April 29, is an article titled, "In Silicon Valley�s Kitchen." It covers the popularity of the food market with venture capitalists, featuring a few different companies but focusing largely on Josh Tetrick and Hampton Creek Foods, which "uses about a dozen plants, including peas, sorghum and a type of bean, with properties similar to eggs, to make an egg substitute." Tetrick's first quote about venture capitalists is:

"Part of the reason you�re seeing all these V.C.�s get interested in this is the food industry is not only is it massive, but like the energy industry, it is terribly broken in terms of its impact on the environment, health, animals."

Also from the article:
"Lyrical Foods makes cheese from almond milk and macadamia milk under the name Kite Hill, which is the first nondairy cheese to be sold by Whole Foods. Nu-Tek Salt uses potassium chloride instead of sodium chloride to lower sodium. Beyond Meat and Sand Hill Foods are making veggie burgers that their investors say taste and grill more like beef than others on the market."

You'll find the article on line, titled, "Venture Capitalists Are Making Bigger Bets on Food Start-Ups" at

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/business/venture-capitalists-are-making-bigger-bets-on-food-start-ups.html
OR http://tinyurl.com/ckmz9ge

The article provides a fabulous opportunity for letters to the editor on the benefits of plant-based diets. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com and instructs:

"Letters should preferably be no longer than 150 words and may be shortened to fit allotted space. They must be exclusive to The Times (no prior submission to, or publication in, any other medium, including the Web). They should generally refer to an article that has appeared within the last seven days. We reserve the right to edit letters. To be considered for publication, letters MUST include the writer�s name, address, current location (where you are writing from) and daytime and evening phone numbers at your current location (for verification, not for publication)."

My thanks go to Hilary Retting and Mary Finelli for making sure we saw the article.

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. If forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was first published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Mon Apr 29 17:17:58 2013

DawnWatch: NY Times on film industry animal problems plus FOUR ag-gag letters! 4/15/13

2013-04-15T11:20:45Z

Before I share New York Times coverage of the flawed system that oversees animals used in the entertainment industry, I share, with many thanks to all who sent letters to the Times, four letters published in today's (Monday, April 15) New York Times about the ag-gag bills. They are at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/opinion/silencing-witnesses-to-animal-abuse.html

Today's article, regarding the American Humane Association's "No Animals Were Harmed..." stamp, appears on page B1 under the title "Flaws Seen In Protection Of Animals On the Set" and on the web at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/15/business/media/guidelines-for-animal-safety-on-film-sets-questioned.html
OR http://tinyurl.com/c4878x8

Reporter Michael Cieply opens with a discussion of the cancellation of the HBO series "Luck" after three horses died on the set. About the American Humane Association's certification of that series we read:

"In the aftermath of those deaths, animal rights groups pressed for answers amid suggestions of negligence, and a former association employee filed a wrongful termination suit, saying she was punished for lodging complaints about the treatment of horses."

Later we read:
"The suit claims she was dismissed after the group succumbed to what Ms. Casey said was pressure from producers to ignore her complaints about the abuse of horses.

"Alan Zuckerman, a lawyer for the association, said in an interview that Ms. Casey had been let go as part of a necessary staff reduction.... Still, Ms. Casey is described by a former colleague as having been a strong, and sorely missed, advocate for on-set monitors who do not always feel they have the organization�s support in the inevitable face-offs with filmmakers."

Cieply writes:
"Trainers and others in the business accuse the association of being too cozy with the industry, which provides its financing, and of being more interested in expanding its power than exercising it."

That line jumbles together different points and agendas. While animal rights activists are indeed worried that the American Humane Association is too cozy with the industry and unwilling to exercise its already too limited power, trainers would like the American Humane Association to have less power.

The article is worth reading (I provided a link above) and gives us a nice opening for letters to the editor about the use of animals in entertainment.
The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com and instructs:
"Letters should preferably be no longer than 150 words and may be shortened to fit allotted space. They must be exclusive to The Times (no prior submission to, or publication in, any other medium, including the Web). They should generally refer to an article that has appeared within the last seven days. We reserve the right to edit letters. To be considered for publication, letters MUST include the writer�s name, address, current location (where you are writing from) and daytime and evening phone numbers at your current location (for verification, not for publication)."

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Mon Apr 15 11:20:45 2013

DawnWatch: NY Times front page on ag-gag laws that make taping the crime. 4/7/13

2013-04-07T17:01:53Z

Before I share today's important New York Times front page story on the ag-gag laws, I wanted to mention something about DawnWatch:

You have surely noticed how relatively infrequent the alerts have become as I have been focused on other work. Yet I am active on both Facebook and Twitter, posting articles there many times per week. If you miss the frequency of DawnWatch alerts, please consider following me on one of those social media sites.

You'll find me on Twitter under my name, Karen Dawn, or my handle, Monkeythanker:
http://twitter.com/monkeythanker

On Facebook you can "follow me" on my personal page -- I have reached my friend number limit so I can't accept new friend requests but my followers see everything I post and they can comment and we can discuss -- it isn't all that different from being "friends." Warning: If you follow my personal page on Facebook you will see not only my animal advocacy stuff but also personal updates about what Paula Pitbull and I might up to, or movies or books I have loved, or updates on issues not directly related to animal rights. It is at https://www.facebook.com/karen.dawn.9

If you prefer to only receive information directly related to animal advocacy and veganism, you might wish, instead, to "like" my Facebook Thanking the Monkey page. On that page you are also welcome to post your own animal advocacy alerts. It is at
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Dawn-Thanking-the-Monkey/25347215527
OR http://tinyurl.com/c7rjako

I do intend to continue to send DawnWatch alerts via email from time to time -- like when there is a Sunday New York Times front page story on a vital issue! But I wanted to make sure people had options for more frequent updates.

Now to that front page story! It is on the cover of the Sunday, April 7, New York Times, titled, "Videos Show Cruelty on Farm and Taping Becomes the Crime." And it is on the web, titled similarly, as "Taping of Farm Cruelty Is Becoming the Crime" at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/us/taping-of-farm-cruelty-is-becoming-the-crime.html

With both the front page story and web article we see a photo of sows in gestation crates, which most Dawnwatch subscribers know are individual cages that do not provide enough room for a pig to turn around, or even comfortably lie down; each intelligent animal spends much of her life staring straight ahead or biting fruitlessly at the bars, going insane from both mental and physical distress.

Reporter Richard A. Oppel Jr. opens the article by describing some effective undercover animal cruelty investigations that have led to prosecutions of the abusers. Then he writes:

"But a dozen or so state legislatures have had a different reaction: They proposed or enacted bills that would make it illegal to covertly videotape livestock farms, or apply for a job at one without disclosing ties to animal rights groups. They have also drafted measures to require such videos to be given to the authorities almost immediately, which activists say would thwart any meaningful undercover investigation of large factory farms.

"Critics call them 'Ag-Gag' bills."

He describes the work of the "American Legislative Exchange Council", which has created a bill called "The Animal and Ecological Terrorism Act." It prohibits filming or taking pictures on livestock farms to "defame the facility or its owner."

Oppel notes:
"Violators would be placed on a 'terrorist registry.'"

The article points to first amendment issues inherent in the various ag-gal bills, and the chilling effect we can expect from the threat of punishment for whistle blowers.

Please check the article out at http://tinyurl.com/d7hlpzz, and share it widely. Then why not send a letter to the editor? You can comment directly on the ag-gag laws or use the article as a basis for whatever point you wish to make about our treatment of other species or the need to move towards plant-based diets.

The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

I send thanks to Mark Langley for making sure that we saw the article.

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Sun Apr 7 17:01:53 2013

Dawnwatch: EU to ban import of cosmetics tested on animals - NY Times report 3/11/13

2013-03-11T10:11:04Z

Good new is today's New York Times:

The European Union, which banned cosmetic testing on animals back in 2004, is now banning the import and sale of such cosmetics. The article, by James Kanter, is headed, "E.U. to Ban Cosmetics With Animal-Tested Ingredients."

It opens with:
"E.U. regulators are expected to announce Monday a ban on the import and sale of cosmetics containing ingredients tested on animals and to pledge more efforts to push other parts of the world, like China, to accept alternatives."

The move will likely have a notable impact on the US cosmetic industry, where animal testing is standard but not required, but could, according to the article, "complicate trade relations with parts of the world like China that demand animal testing as a condition for marketing cosmetics."

Tonio Borg, the E.U. commissioner for health and consumer policy, has made it clear that the EU hopes to "engage with third countries to follow our European approach."

You'll find the article on line at
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/business/global/eu-to-ban-cosmetics-with-animal-tested-ingredients.html
Or at this TinyURL:
http://tinyurl.com/chrjd78

Please read and share it.

This gives us a great opportunity for letters to the editor commending the EU and expressing hope that the US will catch up. Those who have knowledge of the pitfalls of medical testing on animals might broach that issue as well. (Last month DawnWatch covered a NY Times article that reported that much medical testing on mice doesn't work -- see http://tinyurl.com/awxskb2 .) In fact the story opens the door for any kind of note on our relationship with other species.

The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com and instructs:
"Letters for publication should be no longer than 150 words, must refer to an article that has appeared within the last seven days, and must include the writer's address and phone numbers. No attachments, please."

Please also keep an eye out for the story in your local media and respond if you see it there. Smaller papers publish a high percentage of letters they receive -- some close to 100 percent.

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Mon Mar 11 10:11:04 2013

DawnWatch: NY Times questions research on mice 2/12/13

2013-02-12T17:10:25Z

The Tuesday, February 12, New York Times includes an article that tells us what folks like Dr Ray Greek at "Americans for Medical Advancement" (http://CureDisease.com) and Dr Neal Barnard at the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (http://PCRM.org) have been telling us for years: mice are not little men and medical testing on them doesn't work.

The article, by Gina Kolata, is titled, "Mice Fall Short as Test Subjects for Humans' Deadly Ills."

Kolata opens with:
"For decades, mice have been the species of choice in the study of human diseases. But now, researchers report evidence that the mouse model has been totally misleading for at least three major killers � sepsis, burns and trauma. As a result, years and billions of dollars have been wasted following false leads, they say.

"The study's findings do not mean that mice are useless models for all human diseases. But, its authors said, they do raise troubling questions about diseases like the ones in the study that involve the immune system, including cancer and heart disease."

The article follows the researchers inability to publish their papers on treatments for sepsis because the same results had not been shown with mice, and then their inability to get a paper published that showed that there "was no relationship between the genetic responses of mice and those of humans." Reviewers responded with an attitude of, "It has to be wrong. I don�t know why it is wrong, but it has to be wrong."

The article is fascinating and can be found on line at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/12/science/testing-of-some-deadly-diseases-on-mice-mislead-report-says.html
OR at this TinyUrl: http://tinyurl.com/bo43ex3
(My thanks go to Teresa D'Amico for making sure we saw this article. )

It opens the door for letters to the editor questioning not just the efficacy but also the ethics of testing on animals. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com
Always include your name, address, and telephone number when sending a letter to the editor.

For more information:
I know that quite a few people who receive DawnWatch alerts have copies of my book "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way We Treat Animals." You'll find this issue covered in a section titled "Do animal tests save human lives" that goes from page 216-221.

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Tue Feb 12 17:10:25 2013

DawnWatch: ABC News report on "Ag Gag" laws blocking cruelty investigations 2/5/13

2013-02-05T15:37:48Z

Brian Ross and "The Blotter" ABC Investigative New Team have given some terrific coverage to a troubling phenomenon: the rash of state "ag-gag" laws cropping up across the country.

The ABC report explains that shocking video showing abuses of animals and threats to public safety have been effective. For example, one showing dairy cows too sick to walk being moved by forklifts onto the slaughter line led to the largest meat recall in US history. Now legislators are helping the industry make some changes -- not in its conduct but in the ability for activists to expose it.

You can watch the story on line at http://tinyurl.com/a28nzht, or read a related though not identical story on that page. Check it out and please pass it along via the Facebook "recommend" and Twitter share buttons.

And you can comment right below the story on the web page. Please join the discussion. You can also send an appreciative note directly to the ABC News team at http://tinyurl.com/2foqw2w

For some background and more detail about this issue, check out last week's superb Huffington Post piece by Bruce Friedrich (of Farm Sanctuary). It's titled, "Anti-Whistleblower (AgGag) Laws Threaten Human Health, the Environment and Animals." Read it at http://tinyurl.com/anzly8q and please share it widely.

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Tue Feb 5 15:37:48 2013

Dawnwatch: NY Times on Sanctuary, Whale Starvation and poor US health 1/10-1/11/13

2013-01-12T17:52:14Z

The New York Times has published a few articles of interest to animal folks in the last couple of days: A lovely piece on a not-so-crazy cat lady who runs a sanctuary, an op-ed piece on the effect of over-fishing on whale populations (robbing the whales of their food) and an editorial on the poor standard of health in the US, a piece which, surprisingly, ignores the impact of diet.

The heartwarming sanctuary piece appeared in print on Thursday January 10, page D6, with the headline "300 Cats, Yes. Craziness, No."

Reporter Anne Raver describes Siglinda Scarpa's beautiful home and sanctuary in North Carolina:

"If you are picturing a crazy lady living among mountains of newspapers, with a pack of yowling cats stinking up the place, forget it.

"Even on a winter day, there is a pine-scented breeze. The wood-burning stove keeps everything so cozy that the windows and doors are open, so the cats (42 at last count) and dogs (seven) can come and go as they please."

We learn that besides the 42 cats in her home, Scarpa houses another couple of hundred in a sanctuary on the 16 acre property, as well as animals of other species: turkeys, geese, goats and more.

You'll find the sweet article on line at http://tinyurl.com/abva3oq

There is also a slideshow with sixteen photos of Scarpa's home and the animals who live there, my favorite naturally being the shot of the pitbull napping on the couch near the cats. The slideshow is at
http://tinyurl.com/b33l4re

The Friday, January 11 Opinion Pages included a piece by Junichi Sato, the executive director of Greenpeace Japan, titled, "No Longer a Target, Whales Are Collateral Damage." Sato explains that in Japan the "per-capita consumption of whale meat is down to one ounce a year" but that "the threats to whales remain real." He discusses the impact of fishing, which strips the oceans of food for the whales and which directly causes 300,000 cetacean deaths per year as the animals are caught in fishing nets.
You'll find the piece on line at http://tinyurl.com/azevo3f . Please read it, comment below it, and share it.

Also on Friday January 11, in the opinion section, page A22, the New York Times ran an editorial (the paper's official opinion) with the headline, "America�s Health Disadvantage."

The Times tells us:
"It is no secret that the United States spends a lot more on health care than any other country yet ranks far behind other advanced nations in keeping its citizens healthy....Americans experience higher rates of disease and injury and die sooner than people in other high-income countries. That is true at all ages between birth and 75 and for even well-off Americans who mistakenly think that top-tier medical care ensures that they will remain in good health."

The editorial notes a study that found that "even upper-income Americans with health insurance and college educations appear to be sicker than their peers in other rich nations."

But towards the end of the piece we read:
"Likely explanations include a large uninsured population and more limited access to primary care, two problems that should be mitigated by the health care reforms that will kick in next year; higher levels of poverty and income inequality in this country; weaker safety net programs; sedentary lifestyles and obesity; higher rates of drug abuse and traffic accidents that involve alcohol; and greater use of firearms in acts of violence."

That summary's focus on the need for more widespread insurance doesn't mesh with the earlier point about even well-insured rich Americans having poorer health than their counterparts in other nations. And I was surprised that the summary didn't mention diet, given that the New York Times has a columnist, Mark Bittner, who regularly notes the effect of the standard American diet on public health.
You'll find the editorial on line at
http://tinyurl.com/bejgwpu

The New York Times has provided plenty of opportunity this week for us to respond. We can send appreciative letters regarding the charming and respectful coverage of Siglinda Scarpa's sanctuary, or we can use Friday's op-ed on the whales or the editorial on American health as jump-off points for letters praising plant-based diets. Why not take a few minutes to send a letter to the editor on the issue that moves you most?
The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number.

I am rounding off this alert by calling attention to an issue that just doesn't get enough attention, an issue that actress and vegan activist Alexandra Paul (who some of you grew up watching on Baywatch and others know from "Who Killed the Electric Car?") spoke about recently at a TEDx conference: human overpopulation. While people in developing countries tend to have more children, those of us in the West use astronomically more resources, so this is our issue too. I know the animal folks who receive Dawnwatch are already doing a lot because the Earth can support far more people on plant-based than animal based diets. But sadly we know that meat-laden diets are spreading into China and developing nations. Therefore to save the Earth and the animals we need to heed Alexandra's message about educating women and encouraging lower birth rates. I thus encourage you to watch her speech because it is informative and enjoyable, and because if it gets enough hits it will go onto
the main TED site, bringing the issue before millions. It is on line at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNxctzyNxC0

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

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Date: Sat Jan 12 17:52:14 2013

DawnWatch: CNN on shark finning and Vegan Special on the Cooking Channel 1/5-1/6/2013

2013-01-05T10:38:21Z

We have sad news but great coverage from CNN on the shark-finning industry. Then there's all round good news from the Cooking Channel: A vegan special this weekend!

First, on CNN's The Situation Room, Brian Todd reports, "These images give you the most stark picture of just how threatened the world's shark population is." We see video of a rooftop that Todd says looks like it is covered in "some sort of mural or artwork" but closer angles reveal, "thousands, maybe tens of thousands of shark fins being dried on that roof top."

Todd explains that shark finning is "when fisherman slice off the fins and then toss the sharks, often still alive, back into the ocean." He adds, "When they have no fins they can't swim and they drown."

And he tells us:
"This is a stat that will shock you... Every year maybe five people are killed around the world by shark attacks. But we kill an average of 38 million sharks a year. The figure has gotten to as high as 73 million."

Check out the story and the rooftop images that are making international news at
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2013/01/04/tsr-todd-shark-fin-images-outcry.cnn
Or at
http://tinyurl.com/a3wz6kq

And please thank CNN for the great coverage. The Situation Room takes comments at
http://www.cnn.com/feedback/show/?s=situationroom&hdln=2

I thank Andrew Umphries for making sure we knew about the coverage.

On a happier note:

The Cooking Channel has a vegan special this weekend: "How to Live to 100" with Chef Jason Wrobel. It airs on Sunday, January 6, at 8pm ET. Check your local listings.
Here's some information:
http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/how-to-live-to-100/index.html
Watch if you can, spread the word far and wide to help generate good ratings, and please thank the Cooking Channel and ask for a regular vegan show. Positive feedback encourages similar programming in the future.
Go to http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/contact-us/package/index.html
Select "programming" and "on-air program feedback."

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 only if you do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include these parenthesized tag lines.
Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which when it was published in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!")

To discontinue DawnWatch alerts go to http://www.DawnWatch.com/nothanks.php

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Date: Sat Jan 5 10:38:21 2013