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horse

Updated January 15, 2010

Suffering of Bulls and Horses
Bullfighting is one of the cruelest forms of animal abuse.
Every year, more than 250,000 bulls and cows are tortured and killed worldwide during bullfights and similar events.
Also during fiestas ('village festivals'), tens of thousands of bulls and other animals are severely maltreated.
Suffering of Horses
Source: www.cas-international.org/nc/en/news

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Standing in the Gap
For Injured Racehorses
2009
Most of the injured and retired thoroughbred racehorses are transported for slaughter or auctioned within days of leaving the track
for what became, in that race, their last time 80% of those horses can be rehabilitated.
Our mission is to save those horses, that can be rehabilitated,
one at a time - giving them, and the people whose lives they can change, another chance.
Mission Statement
We will stand in the gap for injured thoroughbred racehorses just moments off the track.
We will provide nurturing care, rehabilitation, and training for these fallen athletes.
We will guard their dignity with our integrity; teaching them - through love, commitment, and endurance
- to become effective mentors for our returning military vets.
Standing In The Gap is a newly formed non-profit corporation organized for charitable purposes.
Standing In The Gap follows all IRS tax exempt guidelines.

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Premarin
Boycott Premarin/Wyeth

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"Dear Friends,
We just discovered today that two barbaric festivals that are held in Spain every year are candidates to Intangible Heritage of Spain.
We are talking of S. Fermin , Pamplona and Rapas das Bestas, a festival where wild horses are gathered and shaved by force."
aka: Spanish Horse Wrestling-Festival

(Click to see more 'powerless people' who should be wrestled to the ground and stomped to death... jj)

"These candidacies are being promoted by the International Bureau of Cultural Capitals, from all the candidates that entered in the competition 10 will be chosen as Intangible Heritage of Spain. In this moment there are 13 candidates and the dead line is 31st of May. After this date they will proceed to vote. It's very important that you protest without stopping. We cannot allow that festivals of torture can be accepted as Intangible Heritage of Spain. We want to point out also that if these two candidates win, the next phase will be to be considered as Intangible Heritage of the World by UNESCO. Let's not forget that since 2005 bullfighters have been trying to promote bullfighting as an Intangible Heritage of the World. If they succeed with this, they are half way there.
Please send emails of protest in your own language to:
International Bureau of Cultural Capitals
President Xavier Tudela
Ronda Universitat, 7
E - 08007 Barcelona
Spain
Phone: +34-934123294
fax: +34-934126871
info@ibocc.org
www.ibocc.org
For the Animals
Maria Lopes
Coordinator
International Movement Against Bullfights
www.iwab.org
Source: INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT AGAINST BULLFIGHTS
MOVIMENTO INTERNACIONAL ANTI-TOURADAS
MOVIMIENTO INTERNACIONAL ANTITAURINO
MOUVEMENT INTERNATIONAL ANTI CORRIDAS
www.iwab.org
IMAB@iwab.org"

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Horse Gored..Caution..Graphic
The 2007 National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA) Rodeo Finals was, as in years past, a seemingly never-ending series of animal abuses. The NHSRA encourages young people to violently mistreat animals. The more abuse, the higher the score. In this case an arrogant, incompetent pickup man puts his horse at risk, and then completely abandons his mount in its time of need. A poster to this video revealed on November 26, 2007 that the horse had to be put down following the goring. The horse's death was confirmed by NHSRA president Kent Sturman. It's horrifying and repulsive, but par for the course in the world of rodeo. This abuse would not have been possible without the support of the corrupt administration of Governor Rod Blagojevich, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture, "led" at the time by Director Charles Hartke.
Source: SHARKonline.org

ALDF.org National Justice for Animals Week

Animal Legal Defense Fund
Sues to Rescue Starving Horses in Horrific Wake County Neglect Case
January 12th, 2009
Lawsuit Follows Emergency Rescue of 6 Emaciated Horses, Too Late for a 7th Who Died in Extreme Pain of Starvation
Update: Victory for neglected horses in ALDF v. Keating! On February 13, the court ruled in ALDF's favor, ordering the Keatings to pay $8372.46 for the care of their neglected horses, who were rescued from starvation earlier this winter. More updates on the rescued horses to follow....
Raleigh, N.C.– The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF), the United States Equine Rescue League, and a county animal cruelty investigator are filing a complaint in Wake County District Court today against Michael, Judy, and Gayle Keating of Willow Springs, for severely neglecting eight horses whom they starved—in one case, literally to death—and deprived of all veterinary care. ALDF is seeking permanent custody of the abused animals as well as the costs of caring for the animals, including expenses for medical care of the gravely ill animals. The lawsuit is being filed under the state’s Civil Remedy for Protection of Animals statute (Chapter 19A), a law unique to North Carolina that allows a private citizen or organization to file suit to stop animal cruelty.

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SHARKONLINE.ORG/Showing Animals Respect and Kindness
"Dear Friends,
SHARK has posted the first of a long series of videos that will expose a deeper, darker corner of the Rodeo Mafia than ever before. The video is "Rodeo Cowboy Criminals, Part 1." Based on the records of rodeo connected criminals already in our possession, the series is likely to run a dozen or more video exposes'. The crimes range from animal abuse to child abuse, to racial crimes to rape and murder. This is a grisly job, but someone has to do it. Perhaps the most disgusting aspect of these Cowboy Criminals is that many of them are still involved in and embraced by the rodeo industry. "Rodeo Cowboy Criminals, Part 1" looks at three dastardly criminals. Zeb Lanham we reported on in our last update. Lanham beat his pregnant girlfriend so badly that she had to be airlifted to adequate medical care. Larry Lancaster is a child sexual predator, which is of course sickening and repulsive all by itself. Worse yet, Lancaster ran a rodeo school and was a sponsor of high school rodeo! Jimmy David Brazile is also a child predator. This sixty year old predator repeatedly had sex with a sixteen year-old girl, and then had the incredible nerve to tell the girl's father that he had sex with the girl to show her that it wasn't a big deal!
SHARK's "Rodeo Cowboy Criminals" series will show the link between those who abuse animals and human abuse. I hope you'll take a few minutes to look at this important new effort to expose the cruelty of rodeo.
Link: Rodeo Cowboy Criminals, Part 1
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi and Your SHARK Team"
Although JodysJungle.com has been a supporter of SHARK for many years,
and fully believes in what they do,
sometimes, for the sake of my readers, I have to say...I don't recommend watching this video.
My readers know all about animal cruelty and do not need to be reminded with images that will never leave their minds.
jj

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ASPCA
"We are getting more calls and emails than ever from people who cannot afford to feed their horses..."
Learn how you can donate to the Emergency Hay Fund.
Horse sanctuaries and rescues around the country are in crisis over the soaring cost of hay!
Today's struggling economy isn't just affecting people at the gas pump; the horse industry is also plagued by the escalating cost of hay. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's market report, hay costs have risen from $160 per ton in 2006 to $235 per ton last week.
Faced with these rising costs and ongoing drought conditions many horses are left to starve on arid land. Equine rescues are being flooded with calls from caring horse owners to relinquish their beloved pets simply because they can no longer afford to purchase hay. As a result, horse sanctuaries have become crowded with horses for which they too are struggling to care, and are reporting a sharp increase in the number of emaciated horses being surrendered to them. The situation has become even more dire in areas where wildfires, drought, or flooding have affected hay crops causing wild horse sanctuaries to cut back on their services as a result of the staggering costs.
In order to address this crisis, the ASPCA has created an Emergency Hay Fund; this Fund will provide much needed financial assistance to horse sanctuaries to help reduce the burden of escalating hay costs. Every dollar we receive will be used exclusively to provide Emergency Hay Relief grants to struggling horse sanctuaries and rescue organizations.
Please, help us make a difference in the lives of horses by supporting this important Fund; every dollar will truly make a difference!
Thank you for your support!
Always remember to Make Pet Adoption Your First Option®!
ASPCA | 424 E. 92nd St. | New York, NY | 10128

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5/4/08
Big Brown Wins Tragic Kentucky Derby
Eight Belles Euthanized on Track After Second-Place Finish
Eight Belles

   

Kentucky Derby May, 2008
"Eight Belles" Should Sound the End of Racetrack Betting

News & Issues
Kentucky
Epidemic of Horse Neglect Cases Plague State Where Animal Protection Laws Rank Last in the Nation
Source: Animal Legal Defense Fund eNewsletter

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BlindHorses.org
From Retiring to Rescuing
Alayne Marker and Steve Smith retired from their lucrative jobs 15 years early. The couple then moved to Montana and started The Rolling Dog Ranch Animal Sanctuary with their own savings. Read more about these kind people who help disabled animals.

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ShameOnCheyenne.com
The Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo is one of the most cruel and brutal rodeos in the country. All the graphic images shown on this site were documented by SHARK investigators at the Cheyenne Frontier Days (CFD) Rodeo in Cheyenne, Wyoming in 2005 and 2007. The pictures and videotape tell the truth as many animals are injured, abused, and even killed. Be prepared to see photos on this site taken by SHARK investigators that make the suffering all too clear. For a more extensive look at SHARK's documentation of the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, click on the photo pages in the left column of the site.
Warning
"The images that SHARK captures are virtually impossible to erase from one’s mind, but are truly impossible to erase from the lives of these animals, and indeed all the animals to come, as long as corporations support rodeo.

Action Alert:
Def Leppard and Bon Jovi performed at CFD Rodeo
Please contact each band at the information on this site and nicely but firmly let them know that you'll never be able to look at or listen to them the same way since their participation in a show whose history is the maiming and killing of untold numbers of animals. The Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo is one of the most brutal and deadly rodeos in the world, as it features both steer busting and the infamous wild horse race. In 2005, SHARK investigators shot pictures and video exposing Cheyenne's cruelty, including horses and bulls being shocked, and calves, steers and horses injured and killed.

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TB Friends
located in Northern California, is dedicated to the rescue and placement of horses that have been abandoned or neglected. Usually these horses arrive from the race track. The horses obtained by TB Friends are often saved from the brutal trip to rendering facilities in Texas.
Location: 15891 County Road 92c, Woodland, CA 95695-9217

RERUN, Inc.
was founded in 1996 in Kentucky as a nonprofit thoroughbred adoption program and currently operates chapters in Kentucky, New York and New Jersey. Our mission is to help ex-racehorses find a second career by placing them in adoptive homes. Rerun’s endeavor is to promote the versatility of thoroughbreds in all types of riding disciplines and makes every effort to match physical and mental conditions of ex-runners with the experience and desires of approved adopters. At times thoroughbreds coming off the racetrack experience physical problems that may require rest, veterinary assistance and or rehabilitation. We strive to provide them with the necessary care relying on the assistance of volunteers and professionals experienced in horsemanship. Over the years, ReRun placed hundreds of ex-racehorses in adoptive homes as suitable hunters, jumpers and dressage but always we do our utmost to match our horses with a lifetime friend and family. Rerun is a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization.
Contact Page

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Omak Suicide Race
Please Thank Jack Daniels for Withdrawing Sponsorship
After receiving your numerous phone calls and letters, Jack Daniels officially withdrew its sponsorship of the Omak Suicide Race, the brutal annual event which causes needless injury and death to horses that "participate" in it each year. David Stang, Jack Daniels sponsorship director said they "have advised the PRCA that we want no affiliation with the Omak Stampede now or in the future."
The power of the pen (or keyboard) is indeed mighty and these amazing results are proof-positive that your time and action can make such a profound difference.
To find out what else you can do to help click here.
Thank you!
What is the Omak Suicide Race?

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Campbell Campaign Update
Date: 1/17/2005
From: SHARKWest@cox.net
To: Jody@JodysJungle.com

Campbell Soup has finally responded to our calls and letters regarding their indefensible sponsorship of rodeos. The Campbell letter came in an envelope that proclaimed, “Everything we make contains our business reputation.” Clearly, Campbell is impressed with itself. We are somewhat less impressed.
The person responding for Campbell is John W. Faulkner, Director – Brand Communications. He wrote the following:
"We appreciate your recent communication regarding Pace Food’s sponsorship of events sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). We share your concern for the welfare of the animals used in these events.
Based on our direct experience with PRCA rodeos, we believe that the members of the PRCA provide excellent care to their horses and livestock. We understand that the PRCA enforces approximately sixty rules related to the care and safety of horses and livestock at PRCA-sanctioned events.
Thank you for taking the time to share your concerns with us. We encourage you to contact the PRCA with your concerns."
This is nothing short of outrageous. Our video documentation of rodeo animal abuse spans well over a decade, and the footage gathered in 2004 is the worst we have to date. At the Amarillo steer roping finals last November, nine injured animals were dragged out of the arena. Another staggered out suffering obvious internal injuries while bleeding from the nose and mouth. And Campbell is going to try to defend this abuse?
Since Campbell is claiming it has “direct experience” with the PRCA, it must realize that the PRCA’s humane rules are profoundly inadequate and very rarely enforced. Campbell must also know that rodeo's animal victims are regularly injured and killed.
Perhaps most important, since Campbell believes the PRCA provides “excellent care to their horses and livestock,” the company won’t mind if our Tiger video truck starts showing Campbell employees, shareholders and customers examples of some of that “care” on the streets and at its headquarters.
So far we have 155 animal protection organizations worldwide that have signed on to a statement decrying rodeo animal abuse. Campbell has now officially given all of those organizations and all of their members the brush-off. It is time to expose Campbell as the cruel and unethical company that it truly is, thanks to its insensitive leadership.
Please join me in contacting Campbell and telling them that you will not purchase their products as long as they sponsor the animal cruelty and exploitation that is inherent in rodeo. Below is contact information and a list of Campbell products. The calves, horses, bulls and steers who are victims of rodeo are counting on you, and on their behalf, I sincerely thank you for your help.
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi

CONTACT:
Mr. Doug Conant, President and CEO
Campbell Soup Company
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
(856) 342-4800
(Corporate Headquarters is open 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM EST M-F. You may stay on the line beyond the menu and get an operator, or you can key in C-O-N-A-N-T to the company directory and be connected to someone in his office.)

Mr. Harvey Golub
Chairman of the Board
Campbell Soup Company
Consumer Response and Information Center
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
email: directors@campbellsoup.com

You can also communicate with the Campbell Board of Directors by calling
(800) 210-2173
the toll-free hotline telephone number for the U.S. and Canada. Please see instructions on the website for placing calls from other countries. This line is operational 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. An operator will ask you a number of questions, and you will be given a report number, meaning that you should get some kind of follow-up.
VERY IMPORTANT -- PLEASE LET US KNOW IF YOU GET A RESPONSE!

CAMPBELL BRANDS WORLDWIDE
United States Campbell Condensed Soup, Campbell Chunky Soup, Campbell Select Soup, Campbell Soup at Hand, Campbell's Supper Bakes Godiva Chocolates, Pace Foods, (800-433-7223) or (800-433-PACE) Pace Picante Sauce, Pace Chunky Salsa, Pace Chipolte Chunky Salsa, Prego Pasta and Spaghetti Sauces, Pepperidge Farm Cakes and Cookies, Swanson Broth, V-8 Juices

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The Fund For Horses
2120 Texas St., Ste 2103
Houston, Texas 77003
713 227 1973
Announces the Launch of THE-Unit
Teens Helping Equines
THE-Unit is a grassroots lobbying group just for teens
who want to do their part in helping to protect our horses.

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Help Stop Illegal Filipino Horsefighting
Although horsefighting is illegal in the Philippines, the practice is still very much alive. On August 20, 2004, Davao City’s yearly Kadayawan Festival featured the cruel spectacle even though officials were alerted by members of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society. The practice of horsefighting is rooted in gambling and gore. Organizers make two stallions compete to mate with a mare who is in heat. The male horses become aggressive and kick, bite, and gouge each other in a ring, and many are slaughtered after sustaining terrible injuries. Please write to the Philippine ambassador, urging the government to enforce animal welfare laws and end this barbaric bloodsport.
The Honorable Albert F. Del Rosario
Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines
1600 Massachusetts Ave. N.W.
Washington, DC 20036
202-467-9300
202-467-9417 (fax)
info@philippineembassy-usa.org
To help stop horsefighting at the Kadayawan festival, please contact Davao City Mayor Rodrigo R. Duterte and politely tell him that you won’t be visiting what he calls the “Most Peaceful City in the Philippines” until it’s peaceful for horses, too.
Submit messages to Mayor Duterte at the
Davao City Web Site

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The Truth About Horse Racing
Here is how a racing legend, Exceller, met his end in a slaughterhouse on April 7, 1997:
"Anne Pagmar, who led him to slaughter, said Exceller knew what was going on. He smelled blood and expressed fear. Tied off and hung by a single hind limb, horses thrash while their executioners bludgeon and bludgeon. They are alive when their throats are cut and they are bled to death.
One American horseman, when told of Exceller's last walk, said, 'They have to die sometime.'" Exceller was elected to the National Racing Hall of Fame in 1999. The plaque in the museum makes no mention of the manner of his death, only that he died in 1997.
Information from excellerfund.org
The Exceller Fund is an Internet group that raises money to rescue Thoroughbred horses who would otherwise be sent to slaughter.
Please make a small donation or volunteer your time to a horse rescue (one that does not condone the exploitation of horses) in memory of Exceller, and all race horses who were, and will be, sent to slaughter.
Please -- do not support the horse racing industry.
theanimalspirit.com

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JUSTICE FOR GENTLE SONG

GENTLE SONG
5/6/04
TWO VEHICLES INVOLVED.
Two men playing a cruel game ran down a horse with their vehicles in a Kenwood pasture, a Sonoma County California prosecutor told jurors Thursday at the start of an animal-cruelty trial.

"This was blood sport," Deputy District Attorney James Patrick Casey said.

NOEL GUIDO-SILVA, 21, is accused of animal cruelty, conspiracy, hit-and-run driving and other charges in the death of Gentle Song, a 23-year-old mare that belonged to a Kenwood girl.

Liobijildo Guzman Herrera, 21, pleaded GUILTY last month to felony charges and faces up to two years in state prison.

Guido-Silva's attorney, Steve Spiegelman, told jurors that Gentle Song's death was "an unfortunate accident."

He said the men didn't realize there was a horse in the pasture until they struck it.

Guido-Silva "is not guilty of any of these charges," Spiegelman said.
And wild bears don't shit in the woods..

If he's convicted, Guido-Silva could be sentenced to almost four years in prison. The trial before Superior Court Judge Lawrence Antolini is expected to last two weeks.
Sheriff's investigators said the two men, both farmworkers, broke into the fenced pasture about 2 a.m. April 27, 2003, after a night of drinking and joyriding on the 1,800-acre Kunde Ranch in Kenwood.
In his opening statement, Casey said tire tracks and skid marks show that they deliberately chased Gentle Song in Herrera's Chevrolet Blazer and Guido-Silva's Toyota Supra. He said evidence will show the SUV struck the horse from behind, sending Gentle Song crashing onto its hood. The horse fell against the passenger door of Guido-Silva's car, Casey said. He said the drivers fled, leaving Gentle Song "to die a very terrible death." Ranch workers found the horse dead about five hours later, with a fractured skull and other injuries.
In his testimony, Jim Mickelson, whose 13-year-old daughter owned the horse, said Gentle Song was a retired racehorse with a sweet disposition. "It matched her name," he said. "She was part of the family."
Sheriff's Deputy Gary Delfino testified that he saw horse hoof prints between two pairs of tire tracks leading to the death scene. He said there also was broken auto glass and other debris from a vehicle. He said the pattern of hoof prints showed the horse had been running. Bloodstains and marks on the ground indicated the animal struggled before she died, Delfino said.
Outraged animal lovers posted a $20,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case. An informant led detectives to Herrera and Guido-Silva, according to investigators, who added that they found damage from the incident on their vehicles.

Gentle Song
GUIDO SILVA, along with others, brutally mowed down Gentle Song, a 23-year-old retired race horse in her own pasture. Gentle Song suffered severe injuries after being repeatedly hit by vehicles, and was left to die in agony.
Concerned citizens have asked that Silva, who CONFESSED to his crime, be remanded immediately to the California Department of Corrections; that he serve the maximum prison term allowable (3 years), then be deported as he is not a U.S. citizen; and that his petition for a new trial be denied.

Gentle Song
Update: Guilty Plea in Horse-Killing
Published 2-12-04 (Kenwood, California)
One of two men accused of using cars to run down a mare has changed his plea to guilty.
Liobijildo Guzman Herrera originally pleaded no contest, then later changed his plea to innocent.
In February, he changed his plea yet again, this time to guilty.
Herrera and Noel Guido-Silva were accused of driving into a pasture and chasing Gentle Song, a retired racing horse, last April. The horse was chased, tormented, struck multiple times with a vehicle and left to die.
Guido-Silva will be tried separately. Both men are in the United States illegally and face deportation after they've served their sentences.
To thank the local district attorney for pursuing the case vigorously — and to encourage him to press for a sentence appropriate for such a cruel crime — send a letter to:
James P. Casey
Deputy District Attorney
Hall of Justice, 2nd Floor
600 Administration Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403

To encourage the judge to pass an appropriate sentence, send a letter to:
The Honorable Robert S. Boyd
Assistant Presiding Superior Court Judge
Hall of Justice
600 Administration Drive
Santa Rosa, CA 95403
Source: Animal Legal Defense Fund

Investigator Testifies 2 Vehicles Killed Gentle Song
By Steve Hart
The Press Democrat
March 16, 2004

Horse Jury Visits Pasture
By Steve Hart
The Press Democrat
March 18, 2004

They Kill Horses, Don't They?
By Brenda Walker
VDARE.com
March 26, 2004

One Killer Gets Maximum 3 Years in Kenwood Horse Killing
"This horse was allowed to suffer," judge says in passing sentence
for death of 23-year-old Gentle Song
By Steve Hart
The Press Democrat
May 7, 2004

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SB 1921
The bill to ban horse slaughter in Illinois
was called on yesterday, and the votes were:
55 for the bill
54 against the bill
7 abstained
2 absent
Illinois requires 60 votes or more to pass or fail a bill. Because there were not at least 60 on either side, the bill's sponsor Rep. Molaro was able to table the vote and set the bill to possibly be re-heard next week.
Source: SHARK
March 26, 2004

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Horse Slaughter Bill Needs Our Immediate Help
Date: 3/24/2004
From: Shark
It looks like SB 1921 - the bill to ban horse slaughter in IL may not pass. I cannot stress to you enough how important it is to bombard Illinois' legislators with constant calls and e-mails in support of SB 1921. Please urge IL legislators to visit www.HorseKillers.com to view the undeniable cruelty that horses endure in the slaughterhouse. Also, please contact any media, and urge them to also visit the website and inform the public that Illinois may soon be considered the Horse Killing Capitol of the US if SB 1921 does not pass!
The key person to call on the Republican side of the isle is Minority Leader Tom Cross at 217-782-1331. If you can only make a couple of calls, be sure to call Tom Cross and Speaker of the House Michael Madigan at 217-782-5350.
It is important that these two leaders receive a large number of calls - keep their phones ringing!!! Make sure to call them at their Springfield offices today and tomorrow, and you can find out all of their contact info. at:
Stop Horse Slaughter
Let them know that this issue is extremely important and that you will seriously consider how they vote on this Bill when you cast your vote in November!
SHARK
sharkintl@aol.com
SharkOnline.org

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Update
Stop Horse Slaughter...SB 1921

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Society for Animal Protective Legislation
American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

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Kids 4 Horses Petition
March 2004
A Campaign in Support of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

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RODEO HORSES
The Reality of the "Bucking Bronco"
Are you a good with a video camera?
Will you be attending your area's Rodeo?
Please visit
fund4horses.org
to see how you can help these abused horses.

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ALERT
Illinois Vote Pending
mare and foal, slaughtered
What you are looking at are the pleading faces of a mare and her foal who were brutally slaughtered in Texas, shortly after this photo was taken. Both Beltex and Dallas Crown recently issued a statement that they do not slaughter foals saying they are not taking part in the holocaust currently going on with the PMU industry horses. If Cavel have their way, and re-open their horse slaughter plant in April, there will be an additional 100 horses a week butchered in Illinois to go with the 700 or so a week slaughtered in Texas. Please take action against this today.
If you are an Illinois resident, please call your Legislator.
The Illinois slaughter bill could be voted on any day. Non-residents, please contact as many as you have time to. There are still 80+ legislators who are uncommitted, or who have not given their full commitment to the passage of this legislation.
Thank you
Contact Information
The Fund for Horses
Fund for Horses Free Ecards

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From The Horses Mouth
Tennessee Walking Horse
This educational and moving novel explores the abuse and corruption behind the multi-million dollar Tennessee Walking Horse industry. Through the lives of two innocent horses we discover the painful fate of many. We follow the development of their breed from its beginning to the present. Equine nobility, innocence, and truth grapple with human cruelty, greed, and duplicity. It is an epic battle that continues after the final pages are turned, entrusting the reader with the knowledge of blatant atrocities, which cannot be ignored.
"Though this is a novel in which horses talk to each other and have visions and insight beyond their supposed capabilities, do not discount the amount of truth contained in these pages. All non-historical characters in this story, both human and equine, are fictional; however, many have been drawn from composites or variations of real life characters known to the author. The depictions of training practices and soring methods used in this book have all been either witnessed firsthand by the author, or accounted to him by undeniably reliable sources. If you doubt their authenticity, please investigate the matter yourself. If you don't doubt it, please do whatever you can to put an end to this horrible tragedy." ~ Eugene Davis
Source: Animal Rights Online
TITLE: From the Horse's Mouth
AUTHOR: Eugene Davis
PUBLISHER: Rhoman Books
1708 21st Avenue S. #146
Nashville, TN 37212, USA
Tel: 615-944-3700
Email: info@rhomanbooks.com
Website: rhomanbooks.com

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HorseKillers.com
Date: 2/5/2004
To: Jody@JodysJungle.com
As you know, Cavel International, the Belgian horse slaughterer is rapidly rebuilding its plant in DeKalb, IL in hopes that SB 1921, the bill to ban horse slaughter in Illinois, does not pass. Therefore, we have to do all we can now to ensure that this humane bill DOES pass! Please visit HorseKillers.com, and sign the petition to ban horse slaughter in Illinois. It's also imperative to forward the petition on to anyone you know who'd be willing to sign it, and then ask that they forward it on as well. We need as many signatures as we can, so we can prove to Illinois legislators and the rest of the country that Illinois citizens do not want horse murder here! While on the website, you can also view actual, chilling footage of unfortunate horses in slaughterhouses being shot with the captive bolt gun as well as the bloody slaughter itself. These images are very difficult to watch, but they're real and typical of any horse slaughter plant. These video clips also show the gross inadequacies of the captive bolt method and clearly refute the horse slaughter proponents' claims of the bolt being rapid, efficient and most importantly, pain-free! This footage was kindly provided by the Humane Farming Association.
(ATTENTION PLEASE!
I do not recommend watching these videos...But Please Sign the Petition. jj)
You may also be surprised to find out who supports horse slaughter, and SHARK urges you to let them know what you think about that. With your help, we can prevent Illinois from becoming the Horse Killing Capitol of the United States.
As always, thank you!
For the Animals,
Jodie Wiederkehr
SHARK

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Rodeo Cruelty T-Shirt
For $25.00, you can raise awareness of rodeo cruelty
by wearing SHARK's new anti-rodeo t-shirt.
front and back of rodeo t-shirt
100% Cotton Short Sleeve White Tee
Price: $20.00 Per Shirt
Shipping and Handling: $5.00
SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness:
SHARK is dedicated to ending the abuse and suffering of animals everywhere.

Animal Abuse Inherent In Rodeo
Veterinary Perspective
What does an experienced veterinarian say about rodeos?
Rodeo Cruelty Evidence at Slaughterhouse:
"I am a veterinarian and have spent almost 30 yrs. in meat inspection for the federal government. The rodeo folks send their animals to the packing houses for slaughter, where I have seen them held for several days before being slaughtered. I have seen cattle so extensively bruised that the only area in which the skin was attached was the head, neck, legs, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and at times punctured lungs. I have seen as much as two and three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached slip."
C. G. Haber, D. V. M.

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Update on Horse Slaughter Bill 1/15/2004
From: SharkIntl@aol.com   To: Jody@JodysJungle.com
Steve Hindi and myself were down in Springfield, IL for the last few days to support SB 1921, the bill to ban horse slaughter in Illinois, by exposing horse slaughter via the Tiger Truck. Unfortunately, since time was so limited for this legislative session (less than two days), the bill never got to the floor for a vote. Therefore, this gives us extra time to really pressure the people we need to in order to ensure that when it does come to a vote, it will pass. Steve participated in a press conference with representatives from the horse racing industry and horse rescue. It was a huge success with three newspaper articles that ran in area newspapers and one on the front page of the suburban Chicago paper, The Daily Herald. Please check out the following links to read those articles:
Don't Kill Horses for Food/ dailyherald.com
Horse-Slaughter Bill up for Debate Again/ pantagraph.com
Lawmaker Wants Horse Slaughter Banned in Illinois/wifr.com
Now, we are asking that you please contact Illinois Governor, Rod Blagojevich, and urge him to use his power to advise the Illinois Department of Agriculture to wait to issue a new license to CAVEL International, the HORSE MURDERERS, until SB 1921 is voted upon.
Governor Blagojevich's contact information is as follows:
Governor Rod Blagojevich
Office of the Governor
207 State House
Springfield, IL 62706
Phone: (217) 782-0244
Fax: (217) 524-4049
Toll Free for IL residents: (800) 642-3112
Email: governor@state.il.us
SHARK applauds all of our activists who contacted their legislators in support of SB 1921. We have a lot of support from the legislators for the bill, but we must remain diligent until it passes and becomes law. Thank you again for your outpouring of support for America's horses!
For the Animals,
Jodie Wiederkehr
SHARK
sharkonline.org

ACTION ALERT
1/8/2004
Phone Calls Needed to Illinois State Legislators
The Bill to ban horse slaughter in the State of Illinois, and thereby blocking Cavel's attempt to re-open their slaughter house in DeKalb is scheduled to be heard next week during their 2-day Session on Tuesday or Wednesday.
We need your phone calls starting Friday and carrying all the way through to Tuesday morning. This is for EVERONE, although it is critical that Illinois constituents make their voices heard.
Please go to fund4horses.org for details.
SOURCE: The Fund for Horses

URGENT ALERT ON HORSE SLAUGHTER
1/5/2004
SB 192, bill to ban horse slaughter in IL, will be called for a vote on Jan 14, 2004
Currently, two foreign-owned slaughterhouses in the United States are killing horses for human consumption:
BELTEX CORPORATION in FORT WORTH, TEXAS
and
DALLAS CROWN IN KAUFMAN, TEXAS.
According to the US Department of Agriculture, 42,312 horses were slaughtered in 2002.
In addition to the horses killed in the two US-based plants, thousands more are transported under deplorable conditions across our borders into Canada and Mexico to be slaughtered. Horses are often transported for more than 24 hours without rest, water, or food, while unprotected from weather extremes in thin metal-walled trailers. Sick and/or injured horses frequently are forced onto double-deck trailers that were designed for short-necked animals including cattle and sheep.
Once at the slaughterhouse, the suffering and abuse continue unabated. Often, horses are left on tightly packed double-deck trailers for long periods of time while a few are forcibly moved off. Callous workers, using long, thick fiberglass rods, poke and beat the horses' faces, necks, backs, and legs as they are shoved through the facility into the kill box. Due to extreme overcrowding, abuse, deafening sounds, and the smell of blood, the horses exhibit fear typical of "flight" behavior – pacing in prance-like movements with their ears pinned back against their heads and eyes wide open.
While Federal law requires that horses be rendered unconscious prior to having their throats slit, recent documentation shows that repeated blows with captive bolt pistols are often necessary, causing excruciating suffering. Horses writhe in the holding stall (known as the "kill box"), legs buckling under their weight after each traumatic, misguided and ineffective blows to their heads. Death is not swift for these terrified and noble animals.

SUPPORT IS URGENTLY NEEDED FOR THIS BILL. PLEASE, FAX, MAIL, CALL AND EMAIL ILLINOIS REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATORS.
Special pressure must be put on the Senators and the members of the Republican Party. Do not forget to mention in your letters that horses in the US are not food animals nor are breeded for slaughter; that horses are part of the American Heritage and that eating them is culturally and ethically unacceptable.
Illinois residents urgently need to contact their local and district Farm Bureau offices as well. Tell them you would like them to support SB 1921 or at the very least be "neutral" about its position .
The names, addresses, and phone/fax numbers of members of the Illinois House of Representatives and Senators can been found on:
Representatives
Senators
legis.state.il.us/house
legis.state.il.us/senate
Do not forget also to write your Congressmen and the members of the US. House Agriculture Committee asking them to SUPPORT AND COSPONSOR BILL HR 857, "The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act", a Federal Bill to ban horse slaughter and the exportation of horses for slaughter in the whole country. If you need more information about bill HR 857 log on to Society for Animal Protective Legislation

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Breast Cancer Awareness
is everyday of every month, of every year..jj
Last Chance For Animals Focuses on Eradicating One Proven Cause
Los Angeles, CA October 15, 2003
This October, Americans may contribute to breast cancer research by buying the new pink Beanie Baby, indulging in Elizabeth Arden's new breast cancer message, a pint of Dreyer's pink-ribboned sherbet or applaud the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for awarding $15 million to researchers, but Last Chance for Animals wants to remind the 9 million women who still take a drug that increases their risk of breast cancer by 24%, that Premarin is made by torturing pregnant horses for their precious urine. LCA's recent investigation documents pregnant mares being sequestered and their foals being slaughtered solely to collect the horses' urine for the manufacture of Premarin. Premarin (name derived from Pregnant Mare Urine) or Prempro (produced by pharmaceutical behemoth Wyeth-Ayerst).
Chris DeRose, founder of the FBI of Animal Rights, Last Chance for Animals said, "212,000 women died from breast cancer this year and 1,000,000 horses have died to make this already proven dangerous drug. What will it take to get women to stand up for their own health, never mind passively allow the torture of voiceless animals to make a drug that only hurts them?"
Premarin is the number one prescribed hormone replacement therapy drug in the world. Over 36% of the current US population are women aged 45+, who are entering into or are in menopause and more than 20 million are women aged 65 and over. This demand supports the slaughter of approximately 25,000 foals and the torture of 75,000 horses annually to manufacture the drug.
The North American Equine Ranching Council
are a group of ranchers who are contracted by Wyeth Ayerst solely to harvest pregnant mares urine for the production of Premarin.
LCA's investigation includes video footage, of nursing foals in the slaughterhouse feedlot; the inside of "pee barns" showing neglected and abused horses; a still alive mare hanging upside down with part of her legs cut off; skinned dead mares hanging, bullet casings in the "kill area" adjacent to where horses are stunned to death, and images of every type of horse used in the Premarin operation. The investigation shows that to produce Premarin, pregnant mares are confined to stalls eight by three-and-a-half feet for 150 day gestation periods. After giving birth, the foals are taken away from their mothers and either slaughtered for consumption or used to replace the mares.
"Although Premarin is widely prescribed," said best selling author on the subject of menopause, Dr. Jesse Hanley, MD, "the National Institute of Health (NIH) reported last year that Prempro increases women's risk of breast cancer by 24%, heart attack by 29%, stroke by 41% and blood clots by 100%. It has never been proven that providing pre-menopausal levels of estrogen is helpful in alleviating the symptoms of menopause! To curb symptoms, there are many safe alternatives to Premarin such as Dongquai, Red Clover, Black Cohosh, Macca, Vitex and Dioscorea which have been used successfully and safely for millennia and are beginning to collect a significant body of research as a much safer, wiser and certainly more humane choice.
Founded in 1984 by De Rose, Last Chance for Animals is the "FBI of Animal Rights," a national, nonprofit advocacy organization dedicated to ending animal exploitation and suffering.

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Animal Rights Campaign Cuts Premarin Horse Cruelty By HALF!
Posted on October 16, 2003
Following the summer release of Last Chance for Animals' (LCA) investigation that exposed how the hormone replacement drug Premarin is made, the drug's manufacturer Wyeth Ayerst announced a 50% cut back in production of the drug on October 14, 2003
A stunning announcement that will save 20,000 mares from having to stand in tight stalls during their 150 day gestation period while their urine is collected to make the drug and another 20,000 foals that would face immediate slaughter,
the statement rocked the Los Angeles headquarters of Last Chance for Animals.
Source & Story: Animal News Center

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Animal Aid Announces 2003 'Mad Science' Awards
August 19, 2003
Animal Aid, the largest animals rights group in the UK, this month announced the recipients of its annual
"Mad Science" Awards
(AAMSAs) for the most "pointless and grotesque scientific research".
The focus this year is on horse experiments.
Source: Animal News Center

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Wild Horse Ranch Rescue News
IDA T-shirts Available Online:
In collaboration with Chandler, Arizona's Wild Horse Ranch Rescue,
In Defense of Animals is making available t-shirts to support the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act now in Congress, to encourage the prohibition of horse slaughter in the United States and the export of horses for slaughter to other countries.
All proceeds from the sale of t-shirts with the IDA logo will go to support Houdini, an IDA-rescued horse who is now being cared for by Wild Horse Ranch Rescue. View and purchase the t-shirts online at: We Don't Eat Horses
And
we can help horses through legislation. It's easy...click HERE and let the quick form fill out your letters and fax/email them to your representatives for you.

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Subj: HR 857 Petition
Date: 6/29/2003
To: Jody@JodysJungle.com
We are writing you to support HR 857, a bill introduced in congress that will essentially forbid horse slaughter and more importantly, transportation of horses for the purpose of slaughter in the United States. Equine Friends has set up a petition that will be sent to the US Congress. You can register your name, email, and make a comment on how you feel about the issue. We will be shipping off the information, sorted by state, to members of Congress. We also have links so that you can voice your message directly to your member of congress. This is a unique moment in history. The Anti-Slaughter movement finally has the momentum. Lets win this one for the horses!

For people interested in equine rescue efforts.
RescueNetwork.com

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AMERICAN HORSE SLAUGHTER PREVENTION ACT INTRODUCED
February 20, 2003
The American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, sponsored by U.S. Reps. John Sweeney (R-NY) and John Spratt, Jr. (D-SC), has been introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R. 857. If passed, the legislation (which has yet to be introduced in the Senate) would ban the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the U.S. It would also ban the transport of horses intended for slaughter for human consumption between states and out of the U.S. While there is no real market for horsemeat for human consumption within the U.S., it is big business overseas. American horses from stockyards and auction houses, and sometimes even mustangs from the range, are trucked thousands of miles to slaughterhouses in Texas, Canada and Mexico so that their meat can be sold as a delicacy in places like France, Belgium, Italy, or Asia.
WHAT WE CAN DO:
Contact your U.S. Representative (U.S. Capitol switchboard: 202-224-3121) and ask that s/he support H.R. 857, the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. You can look up the name and contact information of your Rep. at Congress.org or by calling The HSUS at (202) 955-3666. For more information on H.R. 857, see: Society for Animal Protective Legislation

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Stop Slaughter of Nevada Horses
Reno, NV 1/21/2003
The Fund for Animals and the Doris Day Animal League sent a joint letter to Bureau of Land Management officials and the Nevada Department of Agriculture charging that a planned round up of more than 800 wild horses from Crescent Valley would be in violation of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act and the National Environmental Policy Act. The Fund for Animals is taking 60 of the horses to its Black Beauty Ranch sanctuary in Texas, and other rescue organizations have until February 5th to adopt horses, or else they will go to livestock auction.
Read on: Fund For Animals

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Dear Friends,
Those of you on SHARK's E-mail list during the summer may remember that in May and June, there were some close encounters with rodeo goons in the Illinois High School Rodeo Association (IHSRA). I want to let you know the status of one case, and ask for your help.
While videotaping violations of Illinois humane law at a rodeo in the town of Wyoming, Illinois on June 1, 2002, I was stalked and then blindsided by a rodeo thug. The man was upset about my use of a videocamera. The confrontation with the man, and the beginning of his attack is on tape, right up to the point when the camera was hit so hard that the battery was jarred off. There was other damage to the camera as well, costing hundreds of dollars in repairs.
The man desperately tried to wrench the camera from my grip. I held on. The attack resulted in an injury to my right hand, but I retained the camera. The man finally gave up and retreated, yelling obscenities and threats (in the immediate vicinity of young people). I was able to find the camera battery and reattach it. In spite of being damaged the camera still functioned, so I videotaped the aftermath of the incident.
Within moments the man apparently running the rodeo, Ken Gaskin, appeared. I told Gaskin I had videotaped both animal abuse and the attack. Gaskin began pushing me, and batting and at the camera. Gaskin claimed that I had to pay a $100 fee to videotape at the rodeo. This claim sounded ridiculous on its face, and further investigation proved Gaskin was lying.
I left the rodeo grounds to contact the Wyoming police. Wyoming police officer Gregory Kursock was assisted by a Stark County sheriff's deputy. Both officers were professional and courteous. The officers took reports from investigator Donna Hertel and I, and witnessed both the damage to my camera and to my hand.
After taking my report, the officers, Donna Hertel and I went to the rodeo grounds to look for the suspect and witnesses. Not surprisingly, the suspect was gone. Although there were dozens of witnesses to the attack, there was only one man, a local and apparently not a regular rodeo person, who spoke out about what he saw. I don't know the man's name, but I heard him truthfully tell the police what happened.
I went to a hospital in nearby Peoria, Illinois where my hand was examined and treated. We obtained a doctor's report. Subsequently, the video camera was repaired by a Sony service center, and the damage was noted with the bill.
Medical and equipment repair bills add up to over $800. Evidence in this case includes video footage and an impartial witness with no connection to me whatsoever. The suspect's story completely contradicts video evidence and the impartial witness.
This is a very clear-cut case, so why won't the Stark County State's Attorney's Office filed charges against the man? I have made repeated calls to the State's Attorney James Owens, written four letters, and even made one trip (140 miles away) to see him in person. On the rare occasion I get to talk to Mr. Owens, he says no decision has been made yet. What does that mean? He won't say. When might he make a decision? He won't say.
On the day I personally went to his office (last August), Mr. Owens made comments that indicated he had some knowledge about rodeos. I suspect he has ties, and that these ties are influencing his hesitance to do his job. I hope that you might contact Mr. Owens and encourage him to move this case along. Here is State's Attorney Owens' contact information:
Mr. Jim Owens
Stark County State's Attorney
130 W. Main
Toulon, IL 61483
E-mail: scsao@bwsys.net
Phone: 309-286-3221
Fax: 309-286-6091
Kindest Regards, Steve Hindi SHARK
11/21/2002

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This year, approximately 75,000 mares will be impregnated and confined to cramped stalls so their estrogen-rich urine can be collected and made into Premarin. Horses will suffer at race tracks, bullrings, rodeo's, slaughterhouses....and on and on....
Horses that have been family pets for years will be cruelly killed once they have gotten too old or the family is no longer interested. It never ceases to amaze me.
Please help the horses...send an email, write a letter, ask your doctor not to prescribe Premarin...scream, yell, shout, be heard, Please...help the horses.

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West Nile Virus in Mammals
Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Horses:
Cases of WN virus disease in horses have been documented, either by virus isolation or by detection of WN virus-neutralizing antibodies in 1999, 2000, and 2001. Approximately 40% of equine WN virus cases results in the death of the horse. Horses most likely become infected with WN virus in the same way humans become infected, by the bite of infectious mosquitoes.
In locations where WN virus is circulating, horses should be protected from mosquito bites as much as possible. Horses vaccinated against eastern equine encephalitis (EEE), western equine encephalitis (WEE), and Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) are NOT protected against WN virus infection. A West Nile virus vaccine for horses was recently licensed, but its effectiveness is unknown. Horses infected by WN virus develop a brief low-level viremia that is rarely, if ever, infectious to mosquitoes. There is no reason to destroy a horse just because it has been infected with WN virus. Data suggest that most horses recover from the infection. Treatment would be supportive and consistent with standard veterinary practices for animals infected with a viral agent.

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Barnaby the Horse Gets Artificial Leg
REYKJAVIK (Reuters)
Barnaby, an English horse who lost one of his legs, has been fitted with an artificial limb and is now enjoying a life of leisure,
an Icelandic prosthetics expert says. Artificial limbs are frequently made for people who have lost a limb but it is rare for an animal to benefit from the latest in prosthetics technology. The 12-year-old horse had the lower part of his right foreleg amputated about a year ago after a muscular disease led to an infection, Toby Carlsson, a senior technical executive at Iceland prosthetics maker Ossur, told Reuters. Barnaby's owner, Jan Munns, did not want him put down. "Why should I? You wouldn't have your children slaughtered just because they have a bad leg," she told Iceland Channel 2 television. A temporary new limb of wood and leather did not work, so Munns turned to an English clinic, Dorset Orthopaedic Company, based in Hampshire, that produces artificial limbs for amputees. The clinic made the limb but called on Ossur to provide an artificial joint and hoof, and it was fitted four weeks ago. Carlsson, technical director for Ossur Europe, said the high-performance appendage was made from carbon fibre using technology normally employed in products for people, but made to horse specifications -- able to bear greater weight and impact. "He's no longer ridden, but apart from that he's a perfectly happy horse," said Carlsson, a Swede living in England. "He's outside, he's running and jumping and having a perfectly good time -- he's a horse of leisure." Ossur is the world's second biggest maker of prosthetics -- artificial limbs and the joints and sockets that make them work -- and its "flex-foot" allows athletes who have lost limbs to take part in events like the Paralympic Games.
Source: Animal Liberation
8/5/2002

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More News on the Rodeo Front
Date: 7/19/2002
An update from Steve Hindi
SHARK

Dear Friends,
Tuesday, the Pittsburgh City Council voted 7-2 in favor of keeping the Pittsburgh, PA ordinance in place that effectively bans the use of rodeo's tools of torture. The ordinance does NOT ban rodeos outright, but rather prohibits flank straps and electric prods. This alone has kept rodeos out of Pittsburgh for about a decade.
This is wonderful news for rodeo animals, as Pittsburgh continues to demonstrate its compassion, and that rodeos cannot function without tools of torture. Pittsburgh animal protectors really pulled together to make this happen. SHARK was able to provide video footage of horses in distress, falling, crashing into gates and suffering injury from flank straps, and this was shown on television a few nights ago, apparently in some detail.
Seeing is believing. The Rodeo Mafia can and will say anything it wants about "humane rodeos," but the video footage exposes the lies. Please, folks, if you want to stop rodeos (or circuses), feel free to protest them when they come to town, but the first priority should be to have a team of people inside filming. Then you will get the evidence you need to stop them.

Moving on to Illinois, SHARK investigators nailed an old nemesis, BIG HAT Rodeo Company, in Pontiac, Illinois last Tuesday night. This is a rodeo company that we have exposed for using the electric prod many times in the past, but it was the first time we filmed them this year, following the Illinois Department of Agricultures new rodeo policy.
The owner of Big Hat, Rudy Calzavara, continued with his habit of shocking animals to force them to perform, and we continued with our habit of filming him. We are now publicizing Calzavara's unlawful action, and are trying to get the Kane County Fair to cancel the Big Hat rodeo scheduled for this Saturday.
The Kane County Fair Board is refusing to cancel the rodeo, but that is to be expected. They bring in all manners of circuses and rodeos, and have neither the ethics to evolve, nor the character to debate issues. These are just a bunch of faceless individuals who do whatever they can get away with, and don't even rise to the level of despicable. But as low as they already are, SHARK shall surely send them to even lower depths in the months to come.
Meanwhile, we are asking St. Charles Mayor Sue Klinkhamer to ask the Fair Association to keep the rodeo out. St. Charles is the town where the fair is held. It may or may not work, but it will keep the issue very public, and people will learn more about rodeo cruelty.
You can help by contacting Mayor Kinkhamer at sklinkhamer@ci.st-charles.il.us and asking her to take a stand on the rodeo. You may also call her at 630-377-4445, or fax her at 630-377-4440. We delivered a videotape of Big Hat's cruelty to her office, along with the Department of Agriculture's policy prohibiting the use of the electric prod on animals in chutes. Even if she can't keep the rodeo out, she can speak out against rodeo cruelty.
I will challenge FRIENDS of the RODEO, a rodeo propaganda organization, to take a stand on this latest issue. You may remember that Friends of the Rodeo actually stopped their message board from operating about a week ago, rather than allowing us to expose it as a mere propaganda machine. It is still down. That demonstrates the cowardice of the entire Rodeo Mafia. If you wish, you can visit the Friends of Rodeo website at friendsofrodeo.com and send them an E-mail message if you are so moved.
Donna Hertel's bust of a rodeo in Folsom, California continues to get television media coverage, and her footage has been shown repeatedly. The stock contractor is apparently still afraid to talk to the media. No surprise here.
Also, SHARK busted a rodeo in Taylorville, Illinois last Sunday, with the same kind of cruelty as the others - the use of the electric prod to force animals to perform. This case has also been referred to the Illinois Department of Agriculture. That makes something like 10-12 rodeos SHARK has busted in Illinois alone this year.
Kindest Regards,
Steve Hindi
SHARK

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Animal Abuse Inherent in Rodeo
Peggy W. Larson, DVM, MS, JD
Source: sharkonline.org

"In order for a calf roper to become proficient he must spend a great deal of time practicing. Baby calves sold to the practice pens are roped over and over until they are injured or killed."

"As with roping calves, tripping steers may be used over and over again in practice sessions. When they are crippled from the repeated abuse, they are sent to slaughter."

"Instead of humanely euthanizing the suffering animal, the rodeo people chose to ship her, leg dangling, across two states in a transport truck with other horses. She died before she could be killed at the slaughterhouse."

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Premarin and Horse Slaughter
The Hidden Story
By Cheryl Kucsera
In-depth article and resources on horses and premarin. A must read.
Article Contents
The Life for the PMU Mares
Living Byproducts of the Industry
Welcome to The World of “Price-per-Pound”
“The Last Ride”
The Final Destination
How does a horse end up in this horrible situation?
What can we do to help the PMU horses?
What can we do to help fight horse slaughter?
Source: MetroPets Online     Email: info@metropets.org

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Update:
Neglected Horses out of Danger
To Be Placed in Loving Homes
Full Story @ PETA

euthanized horse

Horse seized from WILLIAM KASBEN;
this picture was taken after he received more than 20 days of intensive care and finally was euthanized.
Michigan resident WILLIAM KASBEN was recently convicted of 13 counts of animal neglect after Leelanau County officials seized 53 horses from his property last November. Kasben was sentenced to 30 days in jail (less than a third of the maximum sentence allowed by law) and two years’ probation but has yet to begin his sentence; he has appealed the conviction.

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Stop Horse Sacrifice
Animal rights activists in India are calling for the government to stop a horse-sacrificing ritual
being performed for the first time in 300 years.
Source: Ananova 4/3/02

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ENCOURAGE TV STATIONS TO EXPOSE THE PLIGHT OF NORTH AMERICA'S WILD HORSES:
Although wild horses evolved in North America and existed there until their mysterious disappearance 8,000 years ago, they have long been thought of as "exotic" species, introduced to North America by Spanish explorers. Their long, complex history in North America and current persecution in many areas of the West are the subject of "El Caballo," a new documentary that is being offered royalty-free to all PBS stations nation-wide via satellite on SUNDAY, MARCH 3, 2002.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
Call your local PBS-affiliate...(identify yours by going to:
PBS Station Finder
)
and ask that it download and broadcast this important and compelling documentary. Additional information and a short trailer can be accessed on-line at:
High Plains Films

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UPDATE-- NEVADA WILD HORSE KILLERS SENTENCED
On Monday 02/14/02, District Judge Michael Griffin sentenced the three men accused of a shooting rampage that left dozens of mustangs dead on the Nevada plains. Judge Griffin sentenced Scott Brendle and Darien Brock, who both pleaded guilty to a gross misdemeanor of killing or maiming an animal, to 39 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. Anthony Merlino, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disturbing the peace, was given one year of probation and a $1,000 fine. These prison sentences are a disappointment - the Judge could have imposed one year in jail for Brock and Brendle, and six months in jail for Merlino.
Source: HUMANElines A project of The Humane Society of the United States and The Fund for Animals
Phone: (202)955-3666
EMail: humanelines@hsus.org

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Bucking Horse Tortured, Paralyzed, and Killed for "Entertainment"

Great Plains lay dying with broken back

The above is a picture of 'Great Plains' after she sustained a broken back while trying to buck the flank straps off in the third go-round of the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, the yearly presentation of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA). She was then "put down". This was the most recent PRCA rodeo where the finalists are to go on to the "SAFE" Olympic Rodeo.
Great Plains

The rodeo causes innumerable sentient beings to feel intense pain and anger, and brings death to many. These beings, having the ability to feel pain just like us, are tortured for pure amusement.

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RODEO
Cruelty for a Buck
Rodeos are promoted as rough and tough exercises of human skill and courage in conquering the fierce, untamed beasts of the Wild West. In reality, rodeos are nothing more than manipulative displays of human domination over animals, thinly disguised as entertainment. What began in the late 1800s as a skill contest between cowboys has become a show motivated by greed and profit.
THE STUNTS
Standard rodeo events include calf roping, steer wrestling, bareback horse and bull riding, saddle bronc riding, steer roping, and wild cow milking. The animals used in rodeos are captive performers. Most are relatively tame but understandably distrustful of human beings because of the harsh treatment they have received. Many of these animals are not aggressive by nature; they are physically provoked into displaying "wild" behavior to make the cowboys look brave.
TOOLS OF TORMENT
Electric prods, sharp sticks, caustic ointments, and other torturous devices are used to irritate and enrage animals used in rodeos. The flank or "bucking" strap used to make horses and bulls buck is tightly cinched around their abdomens, where there is no rib cage protection. Tightened near the large and small intestines and other vital organs, the belt pinches the groin and genitals. The pain causes the animals to buck, which is what the rodeo promoters want the animal to do in order to put on a good show for the crowds.
BUCKING THE MYTH
In a study conducted by the Humane Society of the United States, two horses known for their gentle temperament were subjected to the use of a flank strap. Both bucked until the strap was removed. Then several rodeo-circuit horses were released from a pen without the usual flank straps and did not buck, illustrating that the "wild," frenzied behavior in the animals is artificially induced by the rodeo cowboys and promoters in rodeo events.
THE END OF THE TRAIL
Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, worked in slaughterhouses and saw many animals discarded from rodeos and sold for slaughter. He described the animals as being so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached (to the flesh) were the head, neck, leg, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and, at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two to three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin. These injuries are a result of animals being thrown in calf roping events or being jumped on from atop horses during steer wrestling. (BR) Rodeo promoters argue that they must treat their animals well to keep them healthy and usable. But this assertion is belied by a statement Dr. T.K. Hardy, a Texas veterinarian and sometime steer-roper, made to Newsweek: I keep 30 head of cattle around for practice, at $200 a head. You can cripple three or four in an afternoon . . . it gets to be a pretty expensive hobby. Unfortunately, there is a steady supply of discarded animals available to rodeo producers whose own animals have been worn out or irreparably injured. As Dr. Haber documented, the rodeo circuit is just a detour on the road to the slaughterhouse.
CHOICES AND CHANCES
Although rodeo cowboys voluntarily risk injury by participating in events, the animals they use have no such choice. In 1986, at the Calgary Stampede in Alberta, Canada, one of the biggest rodeos in North America, eight horses were killed or fatally injured during a chuckwagon race collision. Because speed is a factor in many rodeo events, the risk of accidents is high.
Calves roped when running up to 27 miles an hour have their necks snapped back by the lasso, often resulting in neck and back injuries, bruises, broken bones, and internal hemorrhages. Calves have become paralyzed from severe spinal cord injury, or their tracheas may be totally or partially severed. Calves are only used in one rodeo before they are returned to the ranch or are destroyed due to injuries.
Bucking horses often develop back problems from the repeated poundings they endure. Because horses do not normally jump up and down, there is also the risk of leg injury when a tendon breaks down.
Rodeo association rules are not effective in preventing injuries and are not strictly enforced, nor are penalties severe enough to deter abusive treatment. For example, if a calf is injured during the contest, the only result is that the roper will not be allowed to rope another calf in that event on that day. If the roper drags the calf, he or she might be disqualified. There are no rules protecting animals during practice, and there are no objective observers or examinations required to determine if an animal is injured in an event.
SPURN THE SPURS
If a rodeo comes to your town, protest to local authorities, leaflet at the gate, or hold a demonstration. Contact PETA for posters and fliers.
Check state and local laws to find out what types of activities involving animals are and are not legal in your area. For example, a Pittsburgh law prohibiting cruelty to rodeo animals in effect banned rodeos altogether, since most rodeos currently touring the country use the electric prods and flank straps prohibited by the law. Another successful means of banning rodeos is to institute a state or local ban on calf roping, the event where cruelty is most easily documented. Since many rodeo circuits require calf roping, its elimination can result in the overall elimination of rodeo shows.

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BUCKING THE MYTH
The Cruel Reality of Rodeos
Many people believe that rodeos provide harmless entertainment, but The HSUS, after many years of investigating this so-called sport, knows that what takes place at rodeos is just another form of cruelty. Contrary to the myth perpetuated by the rodeo industry, rodeos do not educate people about ranching skills important in the Old West.
In fact, rodeo events have been created specifically for public entertainment. And the animals used in rodeos do not live on ranches, cared for by the contestants. They are animals who have been rented from stock contractors. Far removed from the range, these animals spend most of their lives in cramped quarters and transportation vehicles and do not always receive proper medical care.
Indifference to the welfare of these animals is built into the system of rodeo judging: a contestant's score is based on how long he/she can ride an unwilling animal or how quickly he/she can overpower an animal (the force of whose resistance actually adds to the contestant's score). Rodeo contestants are rarely penalized for injuring or killing an animal.
Events differ from rodeo to rodeo, but the most common rodeo events are bronc riding, bull riding, calf roping, and steer wrestling.
Source:The Humane Society of the United States
I have seen pictures of a bull with a broken hip standing in pain hour after hour, just off to the side of the "festivities", before finally being killed.

~

An Animal Activist's Plea
by Rob Jobst
Death and suffering are a big part of rodeo. A big part. It would be difficult to dispute that an event that involves the roping of calves, the "busting" of bulls and the "breaking" of broncs is inherently violent toward animals.
But rodeo types don't like to dwell on that aspect of their sport. They prefer to drawl on about tradition, heritage and simpler times when one could beat up on animals without tofu-eatin' do-gooders giving them a hard time for it. Rodeo, they say, is about the cowboy way of life, the American frontier ethic and the kind of values that built a nation. It's about myths and legends. It's about salt-of-the-earth people, cold beers and dependable pickup trucks. To focus on the abuse suffered by animals is to miss the big picture.
Interestingly, for the animals, that is the only picture.
The allure of rodeo is, I suspect, lost on the thousands of cows and horses that are pushed, kicked, shocked, roped, spurred, wrestled and otherwise abused to entertain crowds of slack jawed spectators. For them the rodeo experience is one of fear, confusion and pain. This is not rocket science, .you don't have to be the brightest yokel on the farm to see that calf roping is an act of shocking brutality. Not even the good ol' boys that assure you that broncs absolutely love to buck - "They're born to it. Back on the ranch they buck for the pure joy of it." - will dare tell you that calves delight in the thrill of trachea crushing deceleration. Or that steers love having someone jump on their backs, twist their necks and throw them to the ground.
Sadly, the animals are unable to explain to us exactly how frightening and painful the rodeo experience is for them. Luckily, we have the cowboys to shed a little light on this sadistic pastime.
One Texas steer roper, commented to Newsweek "I keep 30 head of cattle around for practice at $200 a head. You can cripple 3 or 4 in an afternoon . . . so it gets to be a pretty expensive hobby."
Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a federal meat inspector, recalls that "the rodeo folks send their animals to the packing houses for slaughter. I have seen cattle so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached was the head, neck, legs and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and at times puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as two and three gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin."
Nice, huh?
Animals die in rodeos. They die needlessly and often. While preparing to write this story I was informed that a horse was killed just days earlier in the High River, Alberta chuckwagon races. During last year's Calgary Stampede four horses were killed in three separate chuckwagon accidents. A witness told the Calgary Herald, "All of a sudden there was a gasp, and silence. The woman beside me started crying and I sure did. They put a blue tarp over everything . . . but the evening's proceedings continued. Right then I became an animal rights activist."
In 1995 three horses were killed in the Stampede rodeo: two during chuckwagon races and one after slamming its head against a metal gate. In 1986 a horrific chuckwagon crash resulted in the deaths of nine horses and made headlines around the world. In the intervening years other animals have died - crushed beneath chuckwagons, euthanized after having their legs broken, and even suffering heart attacks - all of them raw materials exploited for profit and tossed away like trash.
And let us not forget that the Calgary Stampede is the world's largest and richest rodeo, subject to higher standards and greater scrutiny than the thousands of two bit rodeos that take place in North America every year. It's not hard to imagine the cruelties suffered by animals in these unregulated hickfests or in the countless corrals where cowboys and wannabes practice on living props.
Rodeo proponents will argue that the animals must be treated well, as the success of their sport relies on healthy animals to buck and run and all those other things that frightened, frustrated creatures do. They'll even tell you with a straight face that cowboys genuinely respect and even love their animals. So who, we might ask, would subject someone they respect to highly dangerous situations such as chuckwagon races? Who would allow someone they cared for to be subjected to cinch straps, electric prods, ear biting, lassoing, wrestling and spurring?
For a lesson in compassion it would be best not to confer with chuckwagon driver Kelly Sutherland who, after a training accident injured four of the horses on his team, told the Calgary Herald "It just hurt my pride. That's about it."
After the day's events are finished and the cowboys are counting their prize money and picking Skoal from their teeth, the animals' suffering continues: bleeding wounds, torn muscles and ligaments, internal bleeding, broken bones, shock and terror. Kept in cramped pens or trailers, they often lie in mud and excrement, frightened and unloved. If their wounds are not deemed serious they can look forward to further deprivation and abuse. Otherwise, they will be sent to the slaughterhouse.
Rodeo is a brutal, immoral business that owes as much to the Roman practice of mass sacrifice as to the American ranching tradition. It has no place in a civilized society.
Rob Jobst

PETA, along with every other national animal protection organization in the United States, is working to put an end to the rodeo—an abusive spectacle that has no place in a civilized society.
BUCK The RODEO

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Horse Transportation Regulations Going into Effect
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) recently published new regulations governing the transportation of horses to slaughter, which will go into effect on February 5, 2002.
Transporting horses that are under 6 months old, about to give birth or unable to bear weight on all four legs or walk without assistance will be prohibited. In addition, horses will be required to be given food and water within six hours prior to being loaded for transport.
A number of animal welfare organizations have raised objections to the regulations, which have been pending for approximately five years, for a variety of reasons.
Source: © 2002 Animal News Center, Inc.

~

A Big Golden Book of lies...
"By-product" formerly known as "colt."

Boycott Premarin:
An Unnecessary and Cruel Drug.
Learn why Premarin and Prempak-C, drugs made from the urine of pregnant mares, should be replaced by safer and less cruel alternatives.

~

Thousands of foals slaughtered for popular drug
Vancouver Sun Saturday,   September 08, 2001
by Nicholas Read
WINNIPEG -- It's 10 a.m. on an oven-hot Tuesday at Winnipeg Livestock Auctions Ltd, site of the world's largest auction of pregnant mare urine foals. Over the next 14 hours, more than 1,000 horses -- most of them barely three months old -- will change hands. A similar story will unfold in auction houses across the Canadian prairie this month, as tens of thousands of foals will be sent to their deaths, the industrial residue of a drug developed for menopausal women. The foals are the living byproduct of Premarin, the most widely prescribed drug for women undergoing hormone replacement therapy in North America. When they are born, their mothers will have spent five months confined in stalls and attached to lines collecting their urine, which provides the estrogens used in Premarin. Canada, where the drug was developed, is also the world's largest producer. Last year, 4.9 million prescriptions were dispensed in this country alone. More than 30,000 mares are housed on 402 pregnant mare urine (PMU) farms in Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta. From October to March, they produce 12 to 13 million litres of urine. About 80 per cent of them also produce live foals. But there's little demand for these foals, other than as horse meat. . The horses are packed tightly, 20 or more to a pen. Twenty wranglers -- some of them teenagers -- herd them in and out of the auction ring. Collectively, the animals are referred to as "it" or "shitters." "We pack 'em in until there's no room left," one wrangler explains. Today, there is a veritable sea of horses, most of them foals, in every colour of the equine rainbow: roans, paints, buckskins, greys, palominos and bays.....
Ray Kellosalmi
Kellosalmi is a Kelowna physician with a passion for animals, who travels to auctions such as this one each autumn to buy foals to bring back to B.C. to be placed in homes. He is a five-year veteran of sales such as today's. He comes, he says "to save as many lives as I can." One year it was as many as 70. This year it will be 10. It all depends on how many customers he has back in Kelowna. Sometimes I feel I have to apologize to the horses I can't save," he says overlooking a pen full of foals crowding together like a single animal. "But I can't save of all of them. There are just too many."   Continued...

Mare and Foal Free, not on Premarin ranch/farm.

Premarin, an estrogen-replacement drug taken by more than 8 million women worldwide, has a nasty secret ingredient: pregnant mares' urine. This year, approximately 75,000 mares throughout North Dakota and Canada will be impregnated and confined to cramped stalls so their estrogen-rich urine can be collected. To produce Premarin, approximately 75,000 pregnant mares are tied into stalls so small they can't even turn around or comfortably lie down. Rubber sacks are strapped to the mares' haunches, often rubbing them raw, and the mares are denied free access to water in order to make their urine more concentrated. Should any become lame or infertile, they are slaughtered, and not in a humane way. This is after all a business. (The word 'slaughtered' doesn't it just conjure up vile images? One might say the same of the word 'business')
Most of the foals will be killed before their first birthday. The fate of the approximately 70,000 foals considered unwanted industry "byproducts" who are born on PMU farms each year is equally disturbing. Some are kept for stud or to replace their worn-out mothers. Most of the foals, at the tender age of 4 months, are sold to "kill buyers" and are fattened, then slaughtered. They will end up on the dinner tables of Europe and Japan.
"When you see a colt being born and you have to destroy it … it’s rough because they’re babies. I just didn’t think it was right."
– Ollie Bracken, retired PMU farmer.

The good news is that Premarin is the ONLY menopause drug made with animal-derived estrogen. Safe, effective synthetic and plant-derived alternatives are widely available.
Most women have no idea how cruel the industry is. These people are not in the business of animal welfare. They're in the business of collecting horse urine.
Please, urge your doctor to prescribe synthetic estrogen replacement drugs instead of
Premarin.
To learn more click the neigh button, become informed and help.

Just Say NEIGH! to Premarin!

Please note that American Home Products (parent company of Wyeth-Ayerst) is currently trying EVERYTHING in its massive corporate and legal power to shut this site down because of the truths and facts contained herein. Please don't let them succeed!

If you are concerned about this issue,
write to the Canadian Minister of Industry and tell him how you feel.
After all, the possible loss of tourism dollars does rival that of Premarin income.
The Honorable John Manley
Minister of Industry
House of Commons
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
KIA 0A6
Or phone: 613/995-9001

Also write the Canadian government:
Minister Lloyd Axworthy
Department of Western Diversification
House of Commons
418-M Center Block
Ottawa, Ontario
KIA 0A6

And the Manitoba government to protest their funding of Ayerst's expansion in Canada:
The Honorable Gary Filmon
Premier of Manitoba
450 Broadway
Winnipeg, Manitoba
R3C 0V8

Also write to the Department of Agriculture
USDA, Inspector General
P.O. Box 23394
Washington, D.C.
20026

and of course the Premarin patent holder
Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories (product control)
555 E. Lancaster Avenue
St. David's, PA
19087

and its President:
Robert Essner
Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories
P.O. Box 8299
Philadelphia, PA
19101

If You Want to Boycott all American Home Products, (Wyeth-Ayerst's parent company,)
You can find a complete list at
American Home Products
Here is a short list of some of the more popular brands:
Advil, Anacin, Dimetapp, Dristan, Orudis KT, Robitussin,
Centrum, Chap Stick, Denorex, FiberCon,
Preparation H, Primatene, Anbesol.

You may also want to write:
Dr. Loretta P. Finnegan, Director
Women's Health Initiatives
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, MD
20892
Protest their use of Premarin
in women's medical studies.

Help spread the word and let other animal lovers know
about this multi-billion dollar industry based on the
horrifying suffering and deaths of these innocent horses.
Do some research on the subject and decide for yourself
if these animals must live and die terrified and alone.
Please...become involved in the Premarin issue.

The above information is from the
I.G.H.A.
(International Generic Horse Association)

Circle Of Compassion
You can help women and horses by signing this petition and by educating your friends about Premarin. Encourage them to boycott Premarin and to sign this petition.

United Animal Nations Premarin
Anti-Premarin Campaign
Giving American Women the Compassionate Choice

Premarin: The Ugly Truth

Matilda the wet

VETERINARIANS
are now prescribing Premarin to treat incontinence and other health problems in dogs. If your vet suggests Premarin, ask for a humane alternative. According to the American Veterinary Medical Association, Premarin is easier to obtain, but there are other options. Diethystillbestrol, also known as DES, and Phenylpropanolamine are two drugs that are used to treat incontinence in dogs. Even if your companion animal does not need treatment, ask your vet if he or she prescribes Premarin. You may be able to educate him or her about the cruelty involved in the production of the drug and convince your vet not to prescribe it for any dog.

~

TENNESSEE WALKING HORSE
The practice of 'soring'
PETITION: Horse Protection
SOURCE: ASPCA News Alert - Nov. 8, 2001
BACKGROUND INFO: In an open letter addressed to the United States Department of Agriculture and members of Congress, the ASPCA last week condemned the practice of soring, a variety of painful techniques that accentuate the gaits of Tennessee Walking horses. Although soring became a federal offense in 1970 under the Horse Protection Act, the practice is still widespread. It is estimated that 80 to 90 percent of the horses shown in some areas of the Southeast are sored, and in the last five years, a dozen people serving on the Board of Directors of the official breed registry have received 17 industry and five federal penalties for violating the law. "Soring is deceitful, dangerous and cruel," reads the petition. "It hurts the horse, and it hurts the honest, humane horse owners, trainers and exhibitors across the nation who can not compete on equal terms at the 'highest' levels of Walking Horse competition." The letter goes on to demand resources for the enforcement and strengthening of the Horse Protection Act, as well as more inspections of shows by federal veterinarians. ASPCA News Alert readers, your support is needed to help us bring the extent of this practice to light--and to an end. If you agree with the views expressed in the letter, which can be found in its entirety on our website, and would like to add your endorsement, please e-mail your name, city, state and zip code to hpa@att.net. For more information, please call (212) 876-7000 extension HOPE

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EXOGENOUS
Needless to say, I don't watch horse racing, don't like horse racing, don't approve of horse racing. The other day, flipping through the channels, I saw a beautiful, grey horse rise up on her hind legs, no doubt spooked by something, fireworks or a big screen tv moniter, and fall backwards, hard. I saw her leg trapped in a metal fence and the leather from some piece of equipment she was wearing tightly wrapped around her hoof. It was a hideous thing to see and I had to keep up with the story, I present it here, in case someone else heard about Exogenus and would like to know the outcome.
Exogenous
A fallen Exogenous is tended to by her jockey and an official.

10/27/01 ELMONT, New York
-- Exogenous, one of the favorites for Saturday's Breeders' Cup Distaff, never made it to the starting gate, toppling over and suffering a serious head injury. As she was leaving the paddock to go onto the track, she reared up and flipped completely backward. One of her legs became caught in a gate. Track officials removed her from the gate but had trouble getting her up. She was dragged into the ambulance. "Exogenous reared up at the gap (between the paddock tunnel and the track) and landed backwards on the base of her skull," said track veterinarian Dr. Wayne McIlwraight. "I believe that she landed on the track, based on where she was when we got to her, but I did not eyewitness the fall. She also got her right hind leg stuck in the rail, which we were able to untangle. It does not appear that she suffered any injury to the leg." Exogenous initially was diagnosed with a severe head injury. She was given a steroid and sedative before being taken to her barn. McIlwraight first described her condition as life-threatening but later said Exogenous was up and "fine," describing the trauma as "low grade."

10/28/01 ELMONT, NEW YORK (AP)
- Exogenous continued to improve Sunday, a day after the 3-year-old filly fell and injured her head while going onto the track for the Breeders' Cup Distaff. She was up and alert at the Belmont Park barn of trainer Scotty Schulhofer. Exogenous flipped as she was about to walk onto the track on her way from the paddock, and her hind leg became entangled in a railing. Workers struggled to free the filly, who was sedated and taken in a horse ambulance to her barn for treatment. She received intravenous fluids and eventually stood up on her own.

10/29/2001 ELMONT, N.Y.
-- Exogenous apparently suffered a fractured skull, but is in satisfactory condition Sunday, a day after a frightening incident that caused her to be scratched. She was up and alert at the Belmont Park barn of trainer Scotty Schulhofer. On Saturday, just as Exogenous was about to leave the tunnel from the paddock and step onto the track for the post parade, she reared backward, fell over, and landed heavily on her head. In addition, her right hind leg became stuck between slats of a metal fence that abuts the pathway leading to the track. The scene was awful. The filly, dazed, tried to get up, but was kept still while her leg was dislodged. She then tried to rise again, but a decision was made to sedate her and remove her from the track in a horse ambulance. Randy Schulhofer, the assistant to his father, Scotty Schulhofer, the trainer of Exogenous, stood by distraught while the filly struggled. Exogenous, who was still prone while loaded into the van, was taken to her stall at Schulhofer's barn. According to Dr. C. Wayne McIlwraith of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, who was employed by the Breeders' Cup as an on-call veterinarian, Exogenous suffered an injury to the base of her skull, but her leg was not injured. "She could deteriorate, but that's unlikely," McIlwraith said. "She probably could have gotten up if we had waited another 10 minutes, but we needed to get her out of there." In addition to receiving a sedative, McIlwraith said Exogenous was given a corticosteroid to help reduce swelling to the skull. McIlwraith said blood was coming out of her ears. Although she was doing well late Saturday afternoon, Exogenous is not out of the woods. Scotty Schulhofer said it was likely she had a fractured skull. "I hope we can save her," said Schulhofer, who said the three year old would not race again. If she survives, she will be a broodmare.

Friday, November 2, 2001
Ailing Exogenous is euthanized
By David Grening  Daily Racing Form
ELMONT, N.Y. --
Exogenous, the 3-year-old filly who suffered severe head trauma when she fell during the post parade of last Saturday's Breeders' Cup Distaff at Belmont Park, was euthanized early Friday morning after she was overcome by swelling of the brain. Exogenous won four of seven starts this year including the Grade 1 Gazelle Handicap and the Grade 1 Beldame. At around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Exogenous lay down in her stall and was never able to get back up. She began to suffer seizures, according to Dr. Nancy Brennan, who treated the filly along with several other Belmont veterinarians. "She had violent episodes of seizure activity and she was still unable to stand," Brennan said. "We decided in the best interests of the filly being down for more than 48 hours, this morning at 3:50, to euthanize her. The champion that she was, her desire to live was great just to survive the Saturday incident this long." Brennan said the official diagnosis was head trauma with secondary hemorrhaging of the brain.

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HORSE RACING
Drug abuse, injuries to horses, race fixing, organized crime, and declining public interest have all become integral to the horse racing industry. The industry's whips and blinders are visible reminders that horse racing is merely another form of animal exploitation. As trainer Ron McAnally said after champion Go For Wand shattered her leg in the 1990 Breeders' Cup Distaff race: "It's part of racing. They give their lives for our pleasure."(?)
FACTS

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HORSES
Victims Of Bullfighting
The bulls aren't the only victims of the intense cruelty of the arena. According to Lyn Sherwood, publisher of an English-language bullfight magazine, horses used in bullfights are "shot behind the ear with dope. The horses are drugged and blindfolded and they're knocked down a lot." These horses, who are often gored, usually have wet newspaper stuffed in their ears to impair their hearing, and their vocal cords are usually cut so their cries do not distract the crowd. Fight promoters claim the horses are "saved" from glue factories; this means these animals are often old, tired plow horses who end up being knocked down by bulls weighing up to a half a ton.

FACT SHEET

Bullfighting, Extreme Cruelty

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Wild Spirits
"My sincere apologies, but this site has been closed. If you have any questions or would like to complain bitterly about the event of this closure, just contact me at exspastic@hotmail.com. It's been four years and we've been riding high, but it's time to call it quits. Thanks for all the memories and your loyalty.
Yours in the spirit of the wild horse,   Denise"

The American Horse Defense Fund
AHDF was founded in the year 2000. For the six years that founder Trina Bellak, Esq. worked closely and often daily on horse issues for The Humane Society of the U.S., she learned a great deal about the suffering that goes unabated in the lives of horses of every imaginable type and breed. Much of this unnecessary inhumane treatment goes on "behind closed doors" or out of the public view, often even those who may be witness keep silent.

The American Wild Horse Sanctuary
The American Wild Horse Sanctuary is a project of Return to Freedom (RTF), a non-profit 501(c)3 founded by Neda Demayo. It was incorporated in 1997 as an animal sanctuary and educational retreat, to serve as a solution-based organization dealing directly and actively with the plight of the American Wild Horse. It was also designed to facilitate a direct experience of compassion and respect for all life.
Lompoc, CA 93438

Wild Horses - An American Romance

Wild Horse Mustang Wild Burro Web Ring List

Holistic Horsekeeping.com
Dr. Madalyn Ward, D.V.M.
"Welcome to Holistic Horsekeeping, the best source for holistic, natural and alternative equine medicine and horse healthcare information. Natural treatment of laminitis, nutritional support and supplements, homeopathy for horses, large-animal acupuncture, it's all here..."

~

CALIFORNIA'S FIGHT AGAINST SALE OF HORSES
FOR HUMAN CONSUMPTION
Sunday, January 24, 1999
Local News from San Francisco Examiner

Fighting Horse Sales For Meat
By Eric Brazil of the Examiner staff

Pickings were slim at this month's Jones Horse Auction in Bakersfield, California's biggest sale. Just 60 horses went on the block, less than a third of the normal offerings.
"Most of the 'killer buyers' weren't present or they weren't bidding," said Cathleen Doyle of Sun Valley,
Los Angeles County. "Real people were bidding on those horses. In the past, 85 percent would go to the killers."

Backers of Proposition 6, an initiative passed by California voters in November making it a felony to sell horses for human consumption, say the new law appears to have lowered significantly the number of horses sold at auction in the state. But with little official enforcement of the law, they aren't relaxing their vigil.

On Thursday, Alamo resident Sherry DeBoer, founder of Political Animals posted a $10,000 reward on the Internet for information leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone violating Prop. 6 and fliers were mailed to every auction yard in the state, cautioning them of the risk they run by selling to slaughterhouses or their representatives.
All four U.S. slaughterhouses that turn out filly filets and colt chops for horse meat, sold mostly in Europe, formally have been warned not to accept horses from California.
But both critics and proponents of the law agree it's far too early to say whether sales have ended, or whether they will just be disguised by Californians who sell their horses to, say, a middleman in Utah, before they're shipped to Texas for slaughter.

FINANCIAL INCENTIVE

The financial incentive is substantial. Some 7,000 California horses were sold for meat last year, many for $1,000 a horse, a high price for an animal many ranchers otherwise would have to euthanize or give away.
"What's going to happen is that people will go out of state to sell," said Brent Heberlein, manager of the Belgian-owned company Bel-Tex in Fort Worth, the nation's biggest horse slaughterhouse. "As far as I'm concerned, if it comes from Utah, then it's a Utah horse; doesn't matter where it started out."
So far, Heberlein said, the effect of Prop. 6 on Bel-Tex's business is imperceptible.
Doyle, a chief sponsor of Prop. 6, acknowledges that enforcing the measure isn't even on newly elected Attorney Gen. Bill Lockyer's radar screen. But she said she believes the community of horse traders will enforce the law themselves, especially with the enticement of a $10,000 reward.
"What's going to happen is that they (killer buyers) will be turning each other in," she said. "It's not a nameless constituency. We know who they are, and as soon as we come down on them, there's no doubt that if they're sitting there with a felony doing jail time, that'll be a real deterrent."

JUST LET IT GO

Livestock auction operators see Prop. 6 as a boneheaded scheme that is going to cause only trouble in the end. "What we've got is a bunch of horses in California that people won't put down (and won't bring to auction) because of the law," said Jim Warren, manager of 101 Livestock in the Prunedale area north of Salinas.
There is no value in a worn-out or otherwise useless horse, Warren said. And because it costs about $500 to have a veterinarian euthanize a horse, he predicts many horse owners will "just take off the halter and let it go. I guarantee you that in 18 months there are going to be horses hit on the freeway like you wouldn't believe."
Admittedly, Warren is speculating, but Gerald Hackett, professor of animal and veterinary science at Cal Poly Pomona, agrees Prop. 6 "hasn't changed the practice in any way" for veterinarians. They aren't euthanizing any more horses than before the initiative passed, he said.
Earl Graham, a veteran horse trader who runs the Macklin-Caldwell horse auction in Chino, San Bernardino County, foresees a different outcome. He dislikes the concept of selling horses for meat, but said those sales have kept alive the horse market in the state. "If this law isn't done away with, we will not have any horses in California to speak of," he said.
Both Warren and Graham said that since the initiative's passage, the price for horses in California has dropped because there is no way to get rid of the horses people no longer want.

THE PET FOOD MYTH

The notion that many California horses are sold for pet food is a myth, said DeBoer of Political Animals. In fact, she said, none are, because the price per pound "is so low it makes no sense to haul them anywhere," and the major slaughterhouse for pet food is in Nebraska.
Moreover, horses are such an American icon that major pet-food firms such as Purina and Alpo don't use horse meat in their products. Even the San Diego Zoo, which fed 125,000 pounds of horse meat to the lions and tigers and leopards in 1998, is shifting to an all-beef menu this year for nutritional reasons, although the San Francisco Zoo still feeds 450 pounds of horse meat and 180 pounds of bones to its carnivores each week.

Doyle acknowledged that California is in "a messy period of transition," but she thinks that at the end of it, "humane euthanization" and an end to overbreeding horses are the likely results.
Barbara Clarke, of Carmel, who operates Redwings Horse Sanctuary near Point Lobos, said Prop. 6 seems to have worked an attitudinal change in California.
Riders may be winners "Before, when people would call us looking to dump their horse because it was no longer useable,
if we said we didn't have room, the reaction would be, 'I'm just gonna take this horse to slaughter,'" Clarke said. "That put pressure on us. Now, we still get calls, but people are a lot nicer, more cooperative, they're more apt to tell us they're going to take time to find a home for them."

In the long run, people who want to ride horses may be the winners, said Priscilla Clark, who manages a thoroughbred retirement and recycling ranch for the United Pegasus Foundation in Tehachapi, Kern County.
"When Bel-Tex was offering $1 or $1.10 a pound, there were ambitious guys out there scouring the country for barren mares, lame ranch horses, kids' horses — they just about cleaned the country out of low-priced horses," Clark said.
"If they'd give $1,000 for a slaughter horse, that makes it pretty tough for a seventh-grader who wants a horse. One effect of (the initiative) is that there'll be some lower-priced horses available to the public. That's a good thing."

News Main | San Francisco Examiner | Copyright © 1996-1999 Digital City, Inc.
All Rights Reserved. | Legal Notices

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