DawnWatch Kentucky

DawnWatch Kentucky: Terrific piece in Lexington Herald Leader 3/30/06

Thu, 30 Mar 2006 17:25:00 GMT

Please send supportive letters to the editor regarding the terrific piece below. The paper takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/4dgag

The Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
March 30, 2006 Thursday
EDITORIAL; Pg. a12
Stop throwing mud at environmentalists

Dave Cooper, CONTRIBUTING COLUMNIST

Several years ago, Kentuckians were concerned about a proposal to truck nuclear waste through the commonwealth on Interstate 64 to Nevada's Yucca Mountain.

Lexington residents might be even more concerned to learn that radioactive materials are being transported through our city.

For years, I have seen flatbed trucks with huge cylindrical containers of uranium hexafluoride on Versailles Road near Keeneland. Recently, I saw two of these enormous trucks stopped at the traffic light at New Circle and Bryan Station roads.

No police escort. No flashing lights. Nothing to inform passing motorists or nearby shoppers of the danger, except a small yellow-and-black "Radioactive" sign on the side of the container.

When you live halfway between uranium enrichment plants in Piketon, Ohio, and Paducah, you have to expect some radioactive materials coming through the region, I guess. But New Circle Road? Who made that decision?

Maybe we're not really all that important. We're just little people undeserving of any real government protection. A police escort would cost money. But I'm sure that if one of these trucks wrecked on northwest New Circle and leaked radioactive material, Wal-Mart and Lexmark would be evacuated before you could say Hurricane Katrina.

A greater danger to Lexington residents may come from the railroad line that parallels Nicholasville Road and runs through the center of the city: 4,000 or more railroad cars carrying chemicals such as sulfuric acid and hydrochloric acid.

A derailment involving one 90-ton freight car carrying chlorine could kill 100,000 people in a densely populated area within 30 minutes, according to a recent study by the Naval Research Laboratory.

The University of Kentucky and four of Lexington's hospitals are within 2 miles of the railroad crossing on Waller Avenue next to the Central Kentucky Blood Center. An accident or derailment there could cause a monumental human catastrophe.

It has happened elsewhere:

On Jan. 6, 2005, chlorine gas leaking from a derailed train in Graniteville, S.C., killed eight people; 200 were injured by the fumes.

On June 28, 2004, when two freight trains collided near San Antonio, Texas, the leaking chlorine gas killed a resident 1 mile away. Others suffered severely damaged lungs.

A horrific train accident and explosion in North Korea in April 2004 killed at least 154 people and leveled buildings.

But, hey, when it comes to public safety, we've got our priorities straight.

Radioactive tanker trucks on our busiest road during orange terror alerts: no problem. Four thousand rail cars daily through the heart of town: no worries. But animal-rights activists, well, they're something to worry about. According to the FBI, the single greatest domestic terrorism threat in America today comes from animal-rights and environmental activists.

I'm a member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. I've been a Sierra Club member for more than 20 years. And I participated in Mountain Justice Summer. Gosh, it's amazing that they still allow me to walk the streets of Lexington.

The claim that environmental or animal-rights groups are a threat to Kentuckians' public safety is absurd and insulting to some of the most caring and dedicated volunteers you will find anywhere.

The Sierra Club is trying to get poisons out of our air, food and water, but corporate leaders, law enforcement officials and politicians are lining up to solemnly proclaim the ever-present danger from tree- and bunny-huggers.

Lt. Col. Herb Lattimore of the West Virginia Department of Emergency Services warned that potential "eco-terrorists" are everywhere: "We all know of a few fruit loops -- he's walking around with his aluminum foil over his head to keep the messages out."

KFC President Gregg Dedrick of Louisville stated that animal-rights activists who videotaped animal abuse at the plant of a KFC chicken supplier had engaged in "corporate terrorism against our company."

Give me a break.

Sadly, the national media are fanning the flames of fear with breathless reports of eco-vandalism out West, while ignoring the real danger of the chemical tanker cars in our communities.

One thing I have learned from 20 years of activism is to think for myself. It's time that our leaders start to do the same.

Dave Cooper of Lexington is a community and environmental activist. Reach him at mtrroadshow@yahoo.com.
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(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. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.dawnwatch.com/cgi-bin/dada/dawnwatch_unsubscribe.cgi If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Thu Mar 30 10:25:13 2006

Kentucky DawnWatch: Herald Leader on fur coats donated to help baby animals 12/8/05

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 18:01:00 GMT

The article below presents a great opportunity for supportive letters to the editor, against fur as fashion. The Herald Leader takes letters at http://tinyurl.com/4dgag

The Lexington Herald Leader (Kentucky)
December 8, 2005 Thursday
FREE TIME; Pg. D8

Giving their coats back;
Rescue groups use donated furs to help baby animals

Jessica Heasley, COLUMBIA NEWS SERVICE

When Cindy Stewart was a girl, she loved to watch her mother primp for a night on the town. Her favorite moment came when her mother would swing her luxurious mink stole over her shoulders and whisk out the door.

As much as Stewart cherished the memory, however, she could not wear the fur "in good conscience." So not long ago, Stewart, a retired lawyer in Vienna, Va., donated the stole to the Humane Society of the United States in her mother's memory. Now her mother's exotic mink is giving warmth and comfort to a different sort of creature: a rescued baby animal.

"My mom would have been so pleased," Stewart said.

She is one of thousands who are cleaning out their closets, and clearing their consciences, by donating fur coats and other furry fashions to one of the 160 wildlife rehabilitation centers across the country. Every year thousands of animals are rescued from roadsides, Dumpsters and back yards, then nursed back to health at these centers and returned to the wild.

Wildlife rescuers cut up the furs and style them into surrogate "mothers," toys and comforting nests for abandoned and injured raccoon kits, bunnies and other creatures.

The Fund for Animals Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Ramona, Calif., recently took in five orphaned, 2-week-old coyote pups. An assistant manager, Cindy Traisi, went rummaging for the coyote coat she had received through the Humane Society fur donation program months before.

"We wrapped each of those pups up in a piece of the coat every time we bottle-fed them," Traisi said. "And they thought they were being fed by mom."

The more than 300 orphaned coyotes, bobcats and mountain lions that are brought to the center each year are traumatized when they arrive. "We have to do something to relieve their stress," Traisi said.

While no one has scientifically proved that baby animals are soothed by nestling in real fur, rescuers think it can increase their chances of survival.

"The fur definitely gives the babies a sense of comfort," she said. "They immediately snuggle down into it and seem to relax."

Americans have donated more than 15,000 fur coats and accessories, including hats, stoles, gloves and even slippers, to the fur donation programs at the Humane Society of the United States and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals during the past decade.

The Humane Society took in 124 coats in October alone. The bulk of the donations tend to be mink and fox, but the group also receives rabbit, beaver, raccoon, leopard and even monkey fur. PETA sends the coats it doesn't need for wildlife centers to homeless shelters around the world.

For many donors, the gesture is more than just a tax deduction; it's symbolic of a change of heart.

"We had one donor who told us that when she moved to Alaska, she bought fox-fur-lined gloves to ward off the cold," said Andrea Cimino, coordinator for the fur-free campaign at the Humane Society. "Then she looked out her back window and saw an arctic fox in her back yard for the first time. She said, 'The fur looks better on the fox than it does on me,' and sent the gloves to us."

Not everyone shares the anti-fur sentiment that drives donations. The fashion industry says fur is selling well at retail stores, thanks in part to the recent resurgence of fur coats and trim on fashion runways. According to the Fur Information Council of America, sales of fur and fur-trimmed apparel and accessories reached $1.81 billion in 2004, an increase of 1.1 percent from 2003.

Some wildlife rehabilitators also question the usefulness of fur donations for animal rescue. "Some of the fur is really old and chemically treated from being cleaned over the years," said Lori Ketchum, a wildlife rehabilitator from Middle Island, N.Y. "And unfortunately, once the animal has used it and it's been urinated on, it's garbage."

But Ketchum has observed that one particular type of wild tot benefits from the program more than any other. "Baby rabbits don't respond well to human contact at all," she said. "So a bed lined with rabbit fur is really helpful for their rehabilitation."

Making a donation

Many shelters, animal rescue groups and Humane Societies -- including the Lexington Humane Society -- do not accept fur donations because of issues with sterilization and processing. So call before making plans to donate to your local group.

You can donate a fur to a national organization, however. Call the Humane Society of the United States at (301) 258-3109 or PETA |at 1-888-387-2929. Or visit www.hsus.org/furdonation or www.furisdead.com/donate.asp.
(END OF HERALD LEADER ARTICLE)
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(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. To unsubscribe, go to www.DawnWatch.com/unsubscribe.php. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts please leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)

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Date: Thu Dec 8 11:01:09 2005