DawnWatch

DawnWatch2: Dolphin "enslavement" by navy condemned in Guardian (UK) op-ed by Peter Singer 1/19/12

2012-01-22T19:49:53Z

(Note -- An earlier version of this alert, received by about a quarter of my subscribers, did not include a link to the full article in the Guardian. My apologies.)

I am late sending this out but I did not want to entirely miss the opportunity to share a wonderful opinion piece by Peter Singer published in the UK Guardian on Thursday, January 19 and headed, "Dolphins have no part in this dispute with Iran." The subheading is, "For the US Navy to put dolphins in harm's way in the Persian Gulf is a form of speciesist enslavement we should be ending."

The whole article is a must-read and is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7ml6y4n

Here are a couple of my favorite paragraphs:

"Various civilizations have, at times, enslaved human beings and forced them to fight for their oppressors. That despicable practice is now rightly condemned, as far as human beings are concerned, but the enslavement of other species continues, in many areas of human life, and the use of slaves in war continues in the United States Navy.

"It might be argued that as long as billions of animals are confined in factory farms to produce meat, eggs and milk, the use of a few dolphins in military action is trivial. Obviously, the amount of suffering we inflict on factory-farmed animals every day dwarfs whatever might happen to the dolphins.

"Nevertheless, just when we are starting to realize how gravely we are wronging animals... we ought not to be finding new ways to exploit them."

I am pleased to report that there are hundreds of comments below this piece. Some new supportive comments, however, would be useful. And please consider an appreciative letter to the editor, which will keep the topic alive on the editorial page. The Guardian takes letters at
letters@guardian.co.uk

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Sun Jan 22 19:49:53 2012

DawnWatch: Dolphin "enslavement" by navy condemned in UK Guardian op-ed by Peter Singer 1/19/12

2012-01-22T19:30:43Z

I am late sending this out but I did not want to entirely miss the opportunity to share a wonderful opinion piece by Peter Singer published in the UK Guardian on Thursday, January 19 and headed, "Dolphins have no part in this dispute with Iran." The subheading is, "For the US Navy to put dolphins in harm's way in the Persian Gulf is a form of speciesist enslavement we should be ending."

The whole article is a must-read. Here are a couple of my favorite paragraphs:

"Various civilizations have, at times, enslaved human beings and forced them to fight for their oppressors. That despicable practice is now rightly condemned, as far as human beings are concerned, but the enslavement of other species continues, in many areas of human life, and the use of slaves in war continues in the United States Navy.

"It might be argued that as long as billions of animals are confined in factory farms to produce meat, eggs and milk, the use of a few dolphins in military action is trivial. Obviously, the amount of suffering we inflict on factory-farmed animals every day dwarfs whatever might happen to the dolphins.

"Nevertheless, just when we are starting to realize how gravely we are wronging animals... we ought not to be finding new ways to exploit them."

I am pleased to report that there are hundreds of comments below this piece. Some new supportive comments, however, would be useful. And please consider an appreciative letter to the editor, which will keep the topic alive on the editorial page. The Guardian takes letters at
letters@guardian.co.uk

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which 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: Sun Jan 22 19:30:42 2012

awnWatch: Time Magazine on Animals in Entertainment -- 1/23/12

2012-01-18T16:33:36Z

The current edition of Time Magazine has a good look at animals in movies. The story, by Bryan Walsh, begins on page 50 and is titled, "Beasts of Burden: Should Animal Actors Have a Future in Hollywood?"

It lets us know that we have come a long way from the days when horses were commonly treated on sets as disposable objects. We learn of an infamous scene in the 1930s film Jesse James in which a trusting horse was blindfolded then ridden over a cliff by a stuntman. The trained and expectant stuntman got his paycheck and the horse broke his back.

Such treatment is contrasted with that on the set of War Horse, which has both HSUS and even PETA approval for its treatment of animals and for the special effects used to make situations look dangerous.

(I will note here that I do not wish the above comments on War Horse to be taken as my own endorsement. I have not seen the film as I am reluctant to see any movie celebrating a bond between two beings if one of them is in a halter and working without wages. I personally cannot condone even the most benign equine slavery.)

We also read how far we have come from the days when shockingly abused apes were a popular actor's comic sidekick to the recent production of the wonderful "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," which used no non human primate performers.

An anomaly in mainstream media is this article's exploration of the conflict of interest suffered by the American Humane Association, which gives out the "No animals were harmed..." stamps of approval, and which is funded by the industry it polices. The article also makes clear that AHA presence might mean that no animals are being beaten in front of the AHA officers but means nothing with regard to the way those animals have been trained for their roles.

(Another personal note: When emails are sent to me it sometimes becomes apparent that people confuse the Humane Society of the United States, a staunch advocacy group for all animals, with the American Humane Association, whose almost meaningless seal of approval gives a false sense of security. AHA monitored the set of My Friend Flicka but did not deem the animal treatment "unacceptable" even though two horses were killed during filming.)

The article is excellent and ends on the hopeful note that due to fantastic new technology the use of animals in films is on the way out. Unfortunately the piece is not yet on line -- but the article makes it worthwhile to pick up the magazine at the newsstand. For now, on line, you can read the first couple of paragraphs -- the rest should appear next week, when the magazine is off newsstands, at
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2104304,00.html

Linked to the page above there is a web exclusive video companion piece to the magazine story in which the writer, Bryan Walsh, is interviewed. The piece includes the horrifying clip from Jesse James described above. It is on line at: http://tinyurl.com/7lb62ra

Check out the story and please send an appreciative letter to the editor. Time Magazine takes letters at letters@time.com

I send thanks to Teresa D'amico for recommending this article to us.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Wed Jan 18 16:33:36 2012

DawnWatch: NBC's "Harry's Law" explores personhood for great apes 1/11/12

2012-01-12T17:58:02Z

Last night's (Wednesday January 11) episode of the NBC David Kelley drama, Harry's Law, was extraordinary. It argued against captivity of great apes for human entertainment, discussed the possibility of granting legal personhood for great apes, and introduced millions of Americans to the word and concept of speciesism. The following trailer for the episode gives you the gist:
http://tinyurl.com/899kjy2
In it we hear the question as to whether a gorilla is capable of being "owned." And we hear about "a qualitative shift in the way we view the animal world, especially when it comes to apes."

Not all of the episode is to our liking. It begins with Harry (played by Kathy Bates) and her colleague hunting ducks. Harry says, later in the episode, that she doesn't want to lose the right to keep hunting "lousy ducks." But the episode explores the question of non human animals as property and does so with the intelligence and eloquence that we have come to expect from David Kelly. The question is asked more than answered -- though with regard to great apes the show's opinion becomes clear by the touching final scene. While we, as animal rights activists, would love to see a mainstream show come out strongly against all use of animals as property (for food, clothing or entertainment) we must be aware at this stage of the game that simply seeing the issue explored seriously on a primetime drama is a big step in the right direction.

Unfortunately the episode is not available "On Demand" or on the NBC website. After much searching I found it on line at Watchseriesonline.com. I share the following URL for the episode with the warning that I know nothing about this site, including whether or not it has the right to share this episode and whether it is safe to watch it here. I took the risk: http://tinyurl.com/7qgowed

The episode will surely replay and I ask anybody who sees the gorilla episode advertised as coming up to please let me know so that I can let everybody know.

When I first heard about the episode I was worried that a captive gorilla "actor" had been used in an argument for legal rights for apes. As I watched the episode, however, the sensitivity to the issue was so apparent that I knew the ape could not be real. Indeed, when I called "The Sign Language Company" who are cited on imdb as having been involved with the sign language supervision I was assured that there was no use of a live gorilla actor. Apparently, as with the wonderful "Planet of the Apes," we are watching human actors and CGI technology. We've come a long way!

Positive feedback for coverage of animal issues encourages more of it, so please thank the show's producers. You can, of course, add any thoughts you are moved to add but please focus on positive feedback as this primetime serious discussion of legal personhood is a great step forward for the animals. While the discussion focused on apes I think we all know that the "slippery slope" noted at the trial is wonderfully real.
NBC takes feedback at http://www.nbc.com/contact/general/
Choose "Harry's Law" from the pull-down menu.

I thank Larry Miller and Jackie Raven for making sure we knew about the show.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Larry Miller and Jackie Raven

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Date: Thu Jan 12 17:58:02 2012

DawnWatch: NY Times on livestock antibiotics and Bittman on less meat eating. 1/11/12

2012-01-11T11:28:11Z

The Wednesday, January 11, New York Times has an editorial (the newspaper editorial board's official opinion) on the widespread use of antibiotics in the US food supply, titled "F.D.A. Creeps Forward." (p A22)

It opens with:
"Last week, the Food and Drug Administration took a small step toward reducing the routine use of antibiotics in livestock, a practice that creates drug-resistant pathogens and threatens the effectiveness of some antibiotics in human medicine. It restricted the use of a class of antibiotics called cephalosporins. Because they require a prescription, farm veterinarians use them less than other antibiotics, like penicillin.

"While the move is important, it is far from sufficient. In 2008, the F.D.A. proposed to tightly limit the use of cephalosporins, but this new rule falls well short of that, thanks to intense lobbying by farm and pharmaceutical industries."

You'll find the editorial on line at http://tinyurl.com/7eby5n7. It is worth reading and sharing widely.

The perfect compliment to the piece is Mark Bittman's latest New York Times blog, titled "We�re Eating Less Meat. Why?"

Bittman notes a steady drop in meat consumption in the US and tells us that the Daily Livestock Report suggests that the government has been "wag[ing] war on meat protein consumption" over the last 30-40 years. Bittman comments on that by sharing what he sees:

"a history of subsidies for the corn and soy that�s fed to livestock
a nearly free pass on environmental degradation and animal abuse
an unwillingness to meaningfully limit the use of antibiotics in animal feed
a failure to curb the stifling power that corporate meatpackers wield over smaller ranchers
and what amounts to a refusal � despite the advice of real, disinterested experts, true scientists in fact � to unequivocally tell American consumers that they should be eating less meat."

Bittman's blog is on line at http://tinyurl.com/6sr72ak

Both the editorial and Bittman's blog set the stage for letters to the editor about the unfortunate lobbying influence of the meat industry and its impact on the US public's health -- health being harmed by the consumption of what the industry likes to call "animal protein" and by the antibiotics that come with that protein.

Bittman notes that despite the reduction, "We still eat way more meat than is good for us or the environment, not to mention the animals." In our letters to the editor let's mention the animals.

The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com
Always include your full name, address and telephone number when sending a letter to the editor.

I send thanks to David Bernazani and Tanya Kane Parry for making sure we saw the editorial and Bittman blog respectively.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Wed Jan 11 11:28:11 2012

Dawnwatch: NY Times on vegan bodybuilding! 1/5/12

2012-01-05T13:51:23Z

It's still the first week of the new year and already we have another positive vegan diet article in the New York Times, this time about vegan bodybuilders. The piece, by Mary Pilon, in the January 5 Sports Thursday section (p B10) is titled, "Sculptured by Weights and a Strict Vegan Diet."

Check it out on line at http://tinyurl.com/7kporxh and share it with your friends. And please dash off a quick supportive letter to the editor sharing your experiences with plant-based diets. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.

I thank activist Teresa D'Amico for making sure we saw this 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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which 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: Thu Jan 5 13:51:23 2012

DawnWatch: New York Times on growing field of animal studies -- 1/3/12

2012-01-03T12:12:19Z

On New Years Day the New York Times gave us a heartening article about the health benefits and growing popularity of vegan diets. Today, Tuesday January 3, the paper includes an article, by James Gorman, on the burgeoning field of animal studies, now being taught at top colleges throughout the nation. The article is titled: "Animal Studies Cross Campus to Lecture Hall."

Gorman writes that some scholars have suggested it is time to get past "the humanities":

"The field builds partly on a long history of scientific research that has blurred the once-sharp distinction between humans and other animals. Other species have been shown to have aspects of language, tool use, even the roots of morality. It also grows out of a field called cultural studies, in which the academy has turned its attention over the years to ignored and marginalized humans.

"Some scholars now ask: Why stop there? Why honor the uncertain boundary that separates one species from all others? Is it time for a Shakespearean stage direction: Exit the humanities, pursued by a bear? Not quite yet, although some scholars have suggested it is time to move on to the post-humanities."

You'll find the full article on line at http://tinyurl.com/6s2v62d

I send thanks to activist Batya Bauman for making sure we saw it.

Let's keep the discussion alive in the New York Times with supportive letters to the editor. The New York Times takes letters at letters@nytimes.com

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which 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: Tue Jan 3 12:12:19 2012

DawnWatch: 2011 round-up and today's NY Times vegan article! 1/1/12

2012-01-01T12:42:05Z

What a way to start the New Year: A New York Times Magazine story titled, "No Meat, No Dairy, No Problem." No sh*t! But before we get to that, and to the current US News & World Report story on "The Mainstreaming of the Vegan Diet," I am going to take us through a little tour of the top animal media stories of 2011.

In 2011 we saw agribusiness fight back against the avalanche of welfare reforms with attempts to use its buddies in state legislators to outlaw the driving factor behind those reforms -- the education of the public. Various state legislatures entertained bills that, as a New York Times editorial put it, had only one purpose: "to hide factory-farming conditions from a public that is beginning to think seriously about animal rights and the way food is produced." The laws would have jailed whistleblowers -- they would have made "terrorists" of those taking video of factory farming operations and criminalized news organizations that published their pictures and video. The goods news is that all of those bills failed -- though we are already seeing attempts to reintroduce versions of them for 2012.

The most fun coverage of the ag-gag laws appeared on the Mother Jones website in the form of a brief animated video. You can watch it on line at
http://tinyurl.com/3zlgzc2

For more information on the criminalization of animal advocates exposing conditions on factory farms, check out last Thursday's Los Angeles Times "Greenspace" story, by Dean Kuipers, titled, "FBI tracking videotapers as terrorists?" It is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7dpwcxv . It is fascinating reading, somewhat chilling, and could benefit from some more supportive comments on the page.

We saw, in July, an example of the welfare reforms the ag gag bills were designed to fight, when as the New York Times reported:
"Two groups that are usually squawking at each other � egg farmers and animal welfare advocates � announced an unusual agreement on Thursday to work together to seek a federal law that would require larger cages and other improved conditions for the nation�s 280 million laying hens."

If the terms of the agreement come to bear it will mean significant improvements for the lives of billions of laying hens. But frankly, their lives, in cages, will still be utterly pathetic, which is why the most important thing we can do for the animals is to keep "mainstreaming" that vegan diet.

The ag-gag laws were to some extent aimed straight at the extraordinary work of the group Mercy for Animals. MFA released numerous undercover videos throughout the year generating many thousands of major media stories that detailed the suffering of animals in our food production system. The group's undercover expose of conditions at Sparboe egg farms, for example, which led both McDonalds and Target to dump the farm as a supplier, taught millions of Americans about the egg industry. ABC got the ball rolling on that education with terrific coverage that you can watch on line at
http://tinyurl.com/7a4ub8q

Mercy for Animals has just released a new shocking video showing the abuse of turkeys on a farm that supplies Butterball. You'll find it on line at http://www.butterballabuse.com/ It has been picked up by hundreds of news outlets. If you see it in your local media please take a moment to respond with a letter to the editor or an appreciative note to the station.

The wolves got some beautiful coverage in 2011 in the form of a compelling article in December's O Magazine, which you'll find on line at
http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Polly-Brewster-Finds-Solace-in-Fighting-for-Wolves

But overall wolves did not have a good year and nor did the Endangered Species Act.
The Wednesday, April 13, New York Times explained:

"Congress for the first time is directly intervening in the Endangered Species List and removing an animal from it, establishing a precedent for political influence over the list that has outraged environmental groups.

"A rider to the Congressional budget measure agreed to last weekend dictates that wolves in Montana and Idaho be taken off the endangered species list and managed instead by state wildlife agencies, which is in direct opposition to a federal judge�s recent decision forbidding the Interior Department to take such an action.

"While the language on the Rocky Mountain wolves was a tiny item in budgetary terms, environmental groups said it set an unnerving precedent by letting Congress, rather than a science-based federal agency, remove endangered species protections."

That article is on line at
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/13/us/politics/13wolves.html

Elephants fared better. Animal Defenders International has shown up as a force in the world of undercover investigations. While "Water for Elephants" was still in theatres the group released video of the film's elephant star, Tai, being tortured a few years earlier as she learned to do the tricks she does in the movie. We see her beaten and hear her scream as she is shocked with an electric prod. The vomitous video is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7byl5et . Please share it widely.

More undercover video from Animal Defenders International, showing a 57 year old elephant named Anne being beaten by her trainer, formed the basis of a campaign that led to British MPs unanimously backing a ban on wild animal circuses. I share the link to that video with a warning that it made me cry: http://tinyurl.com/69jslkl But how wonderful to know there is a happy ending! That happy ending has come thanks to much help from The Independent newspaper, which covered the story persistently and even mounted a petition that was signed by 32,000 readers. You can read a fascinating story about the campaign and vote, from reporter Martin Hickman, at http://tinyurl.com/5uzmqcg

The UK follows China, where a ban on the use of wild animals in circuses was declared by the government in early 2011.

We are behind here in the US, but gaining ground. In October, Mother Jones Magazine released an extraordinary nine page expose of Ringling Brothers titled, "The Cruelest Show on Earth." The subheading is: "Bullhooks, Whipping, Electric shocks. Three-day train rides without breaks. Our yearlong investigation rips the big top off how Ringling Bros. treats its elephants."

The article begins with bloody details on the killing of Kenny, a deathly ill baby elephant who was forced to perform -- against veterinary advice. It then brings us up to date on the lawsuit against Ringling Brothers, which was dismissed when the judge ruled that the animal protection groups did not have standing to sue, but which resulted in Ringling CEO, Kenneth Feld, having to admit under oath "that his trainers routinely 'correct' elephants by hitting them with bullhooks, whipping them, and on occasion using electric prods."
If you missed the superb Mother Jones article I strongly recommend you read it and share it. It is on line at http://tinyurl.com/3lmuyg2

The article notes, "But perhaps most disturbing still is the government's failure to act." However in November we got an update on the Mother Jones websites from which we learned:

"Following a yearlong Mother Jones investigation of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey's elephant abuse, the USDA fined Ringling Bros. $270,000 for alleged Animal Welfare Act (AWA) violations from June 2007 to August 2011. It's the largest civil penalty against an exhibitor in the AWA's four-decade history."

It's a start.

We are also gaining ground with regard to the use of chimps in entertainment -- and also in research.
In "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" we saw a strong anti biomedical testing message and a director's refusal to use chimp actors. Director Rupert Wyatt explains that "to get an ape to do what you want it to do you have to dominate it and manipulate it basically." You can read more of his thoughts on the issue in a terrific piece titled "Apes Director Rupert Wyatt: Why CGI is Now the Moral Choice" which is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7fx9x5k

Project Nim, a documentary on the sad life of a chimp named Nim who was reared in a human household is now shortlisted for an Oscar nomination. If you missed Peter Singer's CNN blog on the impact of these two films you'll find it on line at http://tinyurl.com/783as8o

McClatchy is the third largest newspaper company in the US, publishing approximately thirty daily newspapers with a total daily circulation of over two million. In April it released a three part series titled, "Chimps: Life in the Lab."
The three articles are titled:
"As Science Turns From Chimp Research, US Wants to Restart,"
"Some chimps never recover from stresses of research"
and
"Some lab chimps left with poor health, shortened lives"

The backdrop for the series was the battle over the 180 chimps being held at a federal primate facility in Alamogordo, New Mexico, who the National Institutes of Health was attempting to send back into research.

We learn how the reporter got information on laboratory life:
"In Defense of Animals, an advocacy group, obtained the records after a five-year legal fight with the NIH. The group shared them exclusively with McClatchy with no strings attached; McClatchy conducted its own review of the records, which provide the most detailed look ever into the day-to-day life of chimp experimentation."

The series gives arguments for and against continuing to use chimps in research, but mostly against. If you missed it, catch it now and share it. It's on line at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/chimps/

In August the New York Times ran an opinion piece by Roscoe G. Bartlett, a Republican representative from Maryland, against the use of chimpanzees in research. That piece is on line at http://tinyurl.com/42t569m

Then in December the New York Times reported, "U.S. Will Not Finance New Research on Chimps." While that is a step in the right direction the chimps need the passage of the "Great Ape Protection and Cost Savings Act" which would phase out all research rather than some research on chimpanzees, bringing the US in line with the rest of the civilized world where such experimentation has already been outlawed. That Act would release the more than 500 federally owned chimpanzees to sanctuaries and prohibit future breeding of chimpanzees for purposes of conducting invasive research. Please find out more about it and what you can do to help; go to the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine's information page at
http://pcrm.org/research/animaltestalt/gapa/

For the last few years, until November 2011, horse slaughter had been banned in the United States via language in the federal budget each year forbidding the U.S. Department of Agriculture from spending money to inspect the facilities. When that language was removed many animal advocates were outraged. But back in December of 2008 I wrote on DawnWatch,
"The success of bans on the US slaughter of horses for human consumption cannot have a long-term positive outcome unless they are followed by the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act; that act also bans the transport of horses from the US to other countries for slaughter."

US horses have been slaughtered by the tens of thousands in the last few years: they have been shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. Reinstating funding for horse slaughter at least spares them the hideous journeys, and spares them horrifying long drawn-out deaths by stabbing in Mexican slaughterhouses -- the video of those deaths is unbearable to watch. Reinstating funding for horse slaughter was, of course, the wrong answer -- we need the passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, which was later renamed the Prevention of Equine Cruelty Act, and which would not only outlaw the US slaughter of horses for human consumption but just as importantly, if not more so, would outlaw the transport of horses for slaughter elsewhere. I will keep you posted in 2012 as to developments regarding that bill and what you can do to help.

Here's some terrific news from 2011: The trendy little city of West Hollywood became the first in the nation to ban the sale of fur! Won't it be nice to see others follow suit in 2012?

O Magazine is helping in the battle against fur -- and in so many other ways. The October issue featured a fur-free fashion spread and a column from the editor letting us know why O Magazine will never feature real fur. In November the magazine ran a compelling story on one woman's fight against factory farming. In December we saw the wolf story that I linked to above in this alert. In 2011 O Magazine also covered a rescuer who focuses on older dogs. Those of us who have worked in the animal rights field for some time (I started in 1999) have longed to see is the inclusion of animal issues as part of general public discussion. We are getting there, and in 2011 O Magazine was one of our greatest supporters on that journey.

The movement to get marine mammals out of captivity moved forward in 2011. Following the 2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration has recommended that SeaWorld trainers never again be allowed to be in close contact with killer whales unless shielded by a barrier. SeaWorld knows how badly that will cramp its style so in 2011 SeaWorld went to court to challenge the recommendation -- and we saw some good media coverage on the marine mammal captivity issue. The trial concluded in November and the Orlando Sentinel tells us: "It now falls to Administrative Law Judge Ken S. Welsch to decide whether to let stand a potentially industry-altering citation issued against SeaWorld by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration."

For the fourth year in a row at Thanksgiving I brought home two turkeys from a slaughterhouse who have now spent the holidays at my home. (I type this as the stunningly beautiful Russell and Perry Turkey groom each other in my front yard as passersby watch with delight.) I am so gratified to see the media coverage of this event grow every year. On Thanksgiving Day Los Angeles television viewers watched me and their favorite news reporters hanging out with, petting, and generally respecting these wonderful animals. In case you missed it I will share the Los Angeles Times web coverage as that also has a link to my little youtube video, which tells the Russell and Perry story and also gives a little turkey rescue retrospective: http://tinyurl.com/6utnk8c

The media coverage around the event has changed in tone over its four year life, surely reflecting a societal shift in attitude towards people who choose to help rather than eat animals. The new tone was epitomized this year when the huge Southern California news station, KNX 1070 radio, made their Thanksgiving week "KNX hero of the week" not somebody who was feeding turkey to the homeless, as one might traditionally expect, but me, somebody who was feeding two turkeys. We must be getting somewhere.

And that brings us to the best news by far: 2011's explosive growth of the mainstream acceptance of plant based diets. That mainstream trend began in 2010 when Bill Clinton told CNN viewers that his dramatic weight loss and newfound good health came from his new "essentially plant-based" diet. Then in 2011, the release of the film Forks Over Knives (knives referring to scalpels) which features the doctors that have guided Clinton's choices, brought tens of thousands of people on board. Celebrities with millions of followers have tweeted about the film, and Roger Ebert wrote: "Here is a film that can save your life." While our movement has many wonderful books and films I have personally found Forks Over Knives to be the most effective veganizing tool in my arsenal. I have invited groups of friends over to watch it at my place, with gratifying results. They are willing to come watch it because they know the film has no horrible animal cruelty scenes and they have heard that th
e information in it will be helpful to them -- and let's face it, humans tend to ruled by self interest. What I have noticed, however, is that once people are interested in eating less meat for the sake of their health they become more open to letting the ethical arguments sink in. So the FOK program works!

Examples of the vegan shift into the mainstream?

In January the National Public Radio show On Point aired, "Vegans Take America." The host closed that show with a song from Moby before which he read a quote:
"Could you look an animal in the eye and say my appetite is more important than your suffering?"

In February we read in Vanity Fair that a columnist decided to go veggie after enjoying lunch with Kathy Freston at Candle 79.

Also in February Oprah and hundreds of her staffers decided to "take the vegan challenge" for three weeks. At the end of it we heard from many who raved about how they felt and decided to keep eating that way.

In March, Martha Stewart did a vegan show, with guests such as vegan Twitter founder Biz Stone and Farm Sanctuary's Gene Bauer. Stewart referred to herself as not vegan "YET" but let us know that her daughter is, and left no doubt in her audience's minds that she thought of it as a superb way to eat.

We closed the year on a similarly wonderful note with a US News & World Report article on "The Mainstreaming of Vegan Diets." That article gives good information on the health benefits of vegan diets and their growing popularity. Its one weakness is the suggestion that vegan omega 3s are lesser than, and I point out in my own comment on the website that fish get their Omega 3s from algae and so can we, cutting out the middleman, the cruelty, and the environmental degradation. The article is well worth checking out and sharing, and please leave a supportive comment on the page. It is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7kxoz2h

Canadians, you can see similarly terrific year end coverage in the Montreal Gazette, which on New Years Eve ran the article "Critic�s Notebook: Cut down on meat after meeting 2012." It is on line at http://tinyurl.com/7bungt4
Why not start the year by sending a quick supportive letter to the editor? Wasn't one of your New Years resolutions to do more for the animals? The Gazette takes letters at letters@montrealgazette.com

And now, the new year, and our New Years Day present: The Sunday, January 1, New York Times Magazine article by Mark Bittman titled, "No Meat, No Dairy, No Problem." In it he writes that all of us make New Years resolutions to eat better, and he comments:

"If defining this betterness has become increasingly more difficult (half the diet books that spilled over my desk in December focused on going gluten-free), the core of the answer is known to everyone: eat more plants. And if the diet that most starkly represents this � veganism � is no longer considered bizarre or unreasonably spartan, neither is it exactly mainstream."

Well, we are glad US News & World Report sees the "mainstream" point differently, and that folks like Oprah and Martha Stewart are helping to mainstream this wonderful diet. Bittman plays it super safe, recommending that his readers go semi vegan, starting with a vegan meal once a week. And lets face it, if Bittman's columns regularly told everybody to go vegan right now he probably wouldn't have a regular column in the New York Times in which he could tell anybody anything. But our letters to the editor can let people know that there is no reason to go vegan just occasionally. So please write, sharing your wonderful experiences with full time plant based diets. If a letter supporting the one step at a time idea, which the superbly effective vegan advocate Kathy Freston calls "leaning into veganism," feels better to you then write suggesting that approach -- different angles will have more inviting effects on different readers.

Bittman's New York Times Magazine piece is on line at http://tinyurl.com/c5exmt6
It includes some great recipes!
And the New York Times Magazine takes letters at magazine@nytimes.com

I sign off wishing this beautiful community of animal advocates a beautiful New Year. Throughout it may we all advocate for the animals with love in our hearts -- love for them and for the human animals who are only just learning to include the others among those who deserve our respect and compassion.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Sun Jan 1 12:42:05 2012

Dawnwatch: NY Times on "Leaving Animals Out of the Cosmetics Picture" 12/29/11

2011-12-29T14:41:35Z

The Thursday, December 29, New York Times has story in the Fashion section, by Abby Ellin, titled "Leaving Animals Out of the Cosmetics Picture." (Page E3.)

The article opens with:

"The actress Kristin Bauer, of 'True Blood' fame, has an annual ritual when she visits her family home in Racine, Wis.: She takes a black marker and scribbles on the sides of specific products and cosmetics, 'Tested on animals.'

"'It�s so simple for me: we shouldn�t be torturing another living being for mascara when we don�t have to,' said Ms. Bauer..."

Kristin Bauer is a spokesperson for the wonderful "Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine." Learn more about them at http://pcrm.org

The article lets us know just how behind we are in the US:

"On March 11, 2009, the European Union banned cosmetics and personal-products companies from testing their products on animals for things like skin irritancy, sensitivity to light and acute toxicity. The decision also banned the import of cosmetics containing ingredients that have been animal-tested in this way. By March 11, 2013, companies will be forbidden from further tests designed to establish longer-term toxicity.

"But no such laws exist in the United States."

It then explains some of the pitfalls with regard to relying on a company's "not tested on animals" claim and makes it clear that "natural" does not mean not animal tested. It includes the obligatory comment from Frankie Trull of the "Foundation for Biomedical Research" who says that "in some cases, animal models are still a necessary part of ensuring ingredients will not cause harm to people." But it ends with Bauer's rebuttal:

"Ms. Bauer, who favors Almay and bareFaced Mineral Cosmetics, is unmoved by this argument. She often checks PETA�s Web site to see which products do and don�t test on animals.

"'It takes five minutes to go through this list,' she said. 'Sometimes the non-tested are more organic and natural. Sometimes they�re even cheaper.'"

The web version of the article even links to the PETA lists of companies that do and don't test on animals. Do take a look. I took a refresher look and was disappointed to see that products by "Aussie," who used to use their "no animal testing" stance as a television ad selling point, and the well known natural brand Kiehl's, are now listed as tested on animals. You'll find the lists on line at:

http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdotest.pdf
and
http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/companiesdonttest.pdf

The terrific New York Times article is online at:
http://tinyurl.com/brbyyod
Please check it out, email to your friends, share it on facebook, and most importantly, write a quick supportive letter to the editor.

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

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Thu Dec 29 14:41:35 2011

DawnWatch: Perfect review of "We Bought a Zoo" plus "One Lucky Elephant" on TV! 12/1/11

2011-11-30T19:50:13Z

This alert deals with two bits of media coverage of animals in entertainment -- both terrific. First: a few months ago I saw and raved about the documentary "One Lucky Elephant" -- I am pleased to tell you that it is on the OWN network tomorrow night! That's Thursday December 1 at 9pm ET/PT or 8pm central. Second: If you are sick of ads and posters for the film "We Bought a Zoo" and think it should be called "We Bought a Jail" you will be delighted to read the review by Jeffrey Wells who runs the site "Hollywood Elsewhere."

The blurb about One Lucky Elephant on the Own website sums that film up nicely:

"David Balding adopted Flora as a baby elephant, raised her as part of his family, and the star of his show. As Flora got older, David realized the she was unhappy and the circus was no place for her. The road to Flora's retirement was a difficult and emotional journey which tested their bond in unexpected ways. Ten years in the making, One Lucky Elephant explores the consequences of keeping animals in captivity, while never losing sight of the delicate love story at it's heart."

You can watch the trailer at http://www.oprah.com/own-doc-club/One-Lucky-Elephant-Trailer
And please leave an appreciative comment on that page -- positive feedback for animal friendly coverage encourages more of it.

Use the OWN Channel Finder to learn what channel plays OWN on your TV: http://www.oprah.com/own/channel_finder.html

In the One Lucky Elephant trailer we learn that David has been told he should put Flora in a zoo but he says, "I wanted a better life for her than that." Thus I have the perfect segue into Jeff Wells' review of "We Bought a Zoo" which he has titled "They Wanna Be Free" -- after the Elvis Presley song.

Wells opens his review with comments on the plot and acting in the film, then less than halfway through gets to the good part:

"We Bought A Zoo is harmlessly decent family pap, but it rests upon a fundamentally rancid notion that zoos are cool. Zoos are emphatically not cool. I've been to zoos three or four times in my life and I like checking out the giraffes and lions and orangutans as much as the next guy, but they're built on the conceit that animals living sullen and diminished lives inside cages are entertaining, and that looking at these creatures from the safe side of a cage and chuckling at their behavior and smelling their scent somehow enhances our lives by connecting us (or our kids) to nature. Which is, of course, horseshit.

"Outside of the makers of this film and zoo owners and clueless lower-middle-class Walmart types, I don't think there are any intelligent and compassionate people on the planet who believe zoos are a good idea. At best they're an unfortunate idea. A message during the end credits informs that Mee's zoo in England (i.e., Dartmoor Zoological Park) is a highly respected one, but it's still a zoo.

"Last month's exotic animal slaughter in Ohio reminded a lot of us that it's fundamentally wrong to keep exotic animals in cages to satisfy some bizarre emotional longing to bond with them, which, outside of respectably maintained zoos, is some kind of low-rent, Middle-American scumbag thing. Remember how Tony Montana kept a Bengal tiger chained up on the grounds of his mansion?

"Zoos are prisons, and it's dead wrong to sentence animals to life terms in them, however spacious and well-maintained their cages or how loving and caring and compassionate their keepers may be. Zoo animals don't live in 'enclosures,' as zoo-keepers prefer to call them these days. They live in effing jail cells just like Jimmy Cagney and George Raft did in Each Dawn I Die, or Elvis Presley in Jailhouse Rock.

"Crowe is renowned for using great rock-music tracks in his film, but I doubt if he ever considered using Presley's 'I Want To Be Free' for We Bought A Zoo. I thought of it last night when I was driving home from the screening, I can tell you.

"There's no joy in my heart, only sorrow
And I'm sad as an animal can be
I sit alone in my fake-love enclosure
And this enclosure is a prison to me

"I look out my window
And what do I see?
I see a bird
Up in a tree

"(Chorus)
I want to free! (oh, yeah)
Free! (oh, yeah)
Free-hee-hee...I want to be free
Like a bird in a tree (wanna be free)"

You'll find the full review on line at
http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/2011/11/i_want_to_be_fr.php
And you can leave a comment right below it -- I hope you will.

Or please take a just a moment to send Wells a big thank you for taking a stand for the animals. You can contact him at http://www.hollywood-elsewhere.com/contact.php

I thank Leigh O'Brien at the HSUS Hollywood Office for making sure we knew about both bits of media covered above.

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which in 2008 was chosen by the Washington Post as one of the "Best Books of The Year!"

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Date: Wed Nov 30 19:50:13 2011

DawnWatch: Shocking MFA egg farm investigation on 20/20 and 1500 news outlets 11/19 -11/23/11

2011-11-22T20:30:51Z

Over the last few days an undercover investigation conducted by Mercy for Animals has appeared in approximately 1500 news outlets. ABC got the ball rolling on Friday November 18 with a spot on Good Morning America and then extensive coverage on 20/20 that you can watch on line at http://tinyurl.com/7a4ub8q

The expose of unsanitary conditions at Sparboe egg farms has since led both McDonalds and Target to dump them as a supplier.

While the 20/20 story focuses on the unsanitary conditions, "ugly acts of animal cruelty, many too graphic to be broadcast" are also discussed, with the Mercy for Animals undercover investigator saying of the hens:

"They are thrown, they are grabbed by the neck, they are slammed in and out of cages."

Standard animal cruelty is also discussed. The reporter tells us:

"At Sparboe, like most major egg producers, the chickens are kept in what are called battery cages, six to a cage, stacked high in rows twice the length of a football field. Egg producers say they are cost efficient and scientifically acceptable."

But the story cuts immediately to the Mercy for Animals investigator who comments:

"They literally spend their entire lives laying eggs for McDonalds, for their consumers, in these battery cages, where they do not have the space to fully spread their wings or walk around."

Please send ABC's 20/20 a huge thank you for showing us where eggs come from. The show takes comments at http://abcnews.go.com/Site/page?id=3271346&cat=20/20

Most of the follow-up coverage has focused on the decision by McDonalds and Target to dump Sparboe as a supplier. But of course changing suppliers won't solve much as it is not possible to supply companies that size with eggs that were produced in a way that gives hens anything that could be considered a decent life. (And even on the best possible egg farms we have to ask what happened to the males.) So this story gives us the opportunity to spread the word about the benefits to our health, the environment and most of all to the animals, of choosing a plant-based diet. As the story has been run by close to 1500 news outlets it has probably been in your local paper. Why not check your paper's website and then send a quick letter to the editor? Some smaller papers publish the majority of letters they receive. The animals need your voice and this story has given you the perfect opportunity to use it, so why not? If you have trouble finding the correct email address for a lette
r to your editor I am happy to help, though you'll usually find it on a "contact us" tab or by calling the paper and asking.

Always include your full name, address, and daytime phone number when sending a letter to the editor. Remember that shorter letters are more likely to be published.

I am still consumed with my little turkey rescue -- looking after the beautiful boys and getting word out to the media with some great help from terrific folks at Evolotus PR (http://evolotuspr.com) who focus on animal, environmental and social justice causes. Here's a link to a lovely story from the Los Angeles Times, which includes the little youtube video we made on the rescue of Russell and Perry Turkey: http://tinyurl.com/6utnk8c

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 this parenthesized tag line.)

Please go to http://tinyurl.com/254ulkx to check out Karen Dawn's book, "Thanking the Monkey: Rethinking the Way we Treat Animals," which 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: Tue Nov 22 20:30:51 2011