[concernedcitizensforjenny] RE: Urgent! Act Today For Elephant Queenie - Make Phone Call Or Send A Fax By Wednesday, Please

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I just phoned and they are being INUNDATED with calls!!! YAY! They asked for my name, phone and home state.EVERYONE CALL!!!!Lisa Lipton Frisco Humane Society www.friscohumanesociety.com Member Groups Coordinator, Metroplex Animal Coalition http://metroplexanimalcoalition.com/ --- On Thu, 9/10/09, Margaret Morin <dogs_good

wrote:Margaret Morin <dogs_good[concernedcitizensforjenny] RE: Urgent! Act Today For Elephant Queenie - Make Phone Call Or Send A Fax By Wednesday, Please , concernedcitizensforjenny , ntar_network , iswa , societyofpeacenetwork , info, voiceCc: "Connie Kallenberg" <conniekallenbergThursday, September 10, 2009, 9:23 AM

 

 

Thanks for calling, Connie. Queenie needs all the advocates she can get.If you have not yet called, please do so today. Margaret

--- On Wed, 9/9/09, Connie Kallenberg <conniekallenberg@ msn.com> wrote:

 

 

I would like to encourage everyone to call today and demand Queenie's release. I just called on my lunch hour and both offices are keeping lists of how many folks call. Every call counts. Please take 5 minutes to call now. Connie Kallenberg

 

VegetarianNetworkof Dallas@grou ps.com; concernedcitizensfo rjenny@grou ps.com; ntar_network; ISWA ; societyofpeacenetwo rk ; info@actionforanima lsaustin. org; voice@voiceforanima ls.orgdogs_good Wed, 9 Sep 2009 09:31:47 -0700[concernedcitizensf orjenny] Urgent! Act Today For Elephant Queenie - Make Phone Call Or Send A Fax By Wednesday, Please

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Can't read this alert? View it on-line here.

Act Now for Queenie Please make a phone call or send a fax by Wednesday!

(September 8, 2009 update) - It has been 19 days since the USDA confiscated Jewel and Tina, but left Queenie (aka Boo) behind in Leggett, Texas in the hands of the incompetent Will Davenport, who has gravely endangered the health of all three elephants. With each day that passes, IDA is more concerned about Queenie's welfare as she remains at the mercy of a man who has shown repeatedly that he is incapable of providing her with proper and humane care.

This video contains heartbreaking and disturbing footage of Queenie, chained to a tree in Texas, swaying neurotically behind Will Davenport after the truck carrying Tina and Jewel to the San Diego Zoo had pulled away. (The video, made by Davenport's friends in Polk County, contains many untruths, but does provide some interesting footage of the elephant confiscation. )

 

Even if you have already called the USDA, please take a moment by Wednesday to leave a telephone message for the Secretary of Agriculture and email the Administrator of the USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service to urge the agency to return to Leggett immediately for Queenie and send her to a sanctuary where her safety and well-being can be assured. It's very important to contact both USDA officials.

 

 

 

Tell the USDA:

 

It is inconceivable that the agency would leave Queenie in the "care" of Davenport, who has racked up countless Animal Welfare Act violations since receiving his USDA exhibitor's license just two years ago.

The many outstanding legal issues regarding Will Davenport's conduct (including his defiance of a federal order during USDA's first confiscation attempt on August 15) provide a clear avenue for them to help Queenie.

You hold the agency directly responsible for Queenie's welfare. After all she has been through, Queenie must be retired from public display and sent to either the PAWS sanctuary in California or The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee. Since Queenie has no pressing health issues requiring intensive veterinary care, she can go immediately to a sanctuary. There is no excuse for sending her to a zoo.

 

Note: Do not allow the USDA to tell you that they have no jurisdiction over Queenie's care since Davenport voluntarily surrendered his USDA license - the agency has plenty of legal avenues to pursue to bring Davenport to justice and secure Queenie's rescue.

 

USDA Contact Information: Secretary of Agriculture Tom VilsackPhone: 202 720-3631, Fax: 202-720-2166

Acting APHIS Administrator Kevin SheaPhone: 202-720-3861 Email: Kevin.A.Shea@ usda.gov

Contact Congress Too! As your Congressperson and Senators to contact Secretary Vilsack in support of Queenie's rescue and transfer to a sanctuary. If they have been responsive in the past, be sure to thank them for their previous help in securing Tina and Jewel’s confiscation, but let them know that Queenie has been left behind in dire circumstances.

 

Find your federal representatives here.

 

Please continue to call and email these officials until Queenie is safely housed at the PAWS sanctuary in California or The Elephant Sanctuary in Tennessee.

 

Background on Queenie Queenie is an Asian elephant who is estimated to be 52 years of age. She has been "owned" by the Davenport family for at least two decades and has been trucked around the country and forced to perform in circuses and to give elephant rides for years. In 2006, an undercover investigator for Animal Defenders International videotaped Queenie (also known as Boo) and another elephant named Chrissy being abused by Mike Swain, an employee of the Bailey Brothers Circus, a Davenport family operation.

In March 2007, USDA inspectors documented the continued abuse of Queenie, who was found in poor condition at a fairgrounds in Pueblo, Colorado. The inspection report from that time states:

 

"[The elephant has] excessive dead skin over most of her body and doesn’t show evidence of proper bathing for quite some time. She has urine staining and what appears to be urine scalds on her back legs. The pads on this elephant had excessive growth and there were numerous flaps of skin that had trapped debris in them. The cuticles were also excessively long."

Queenie also had "multiple wounds draining yellowish exudates inside the left ear" . . consistent with the improper use of an ankus in the ear."

The handler was "not properly trained or experienced. [He] had to continuously rely on excessive and inappropriate use of the ankus to get the elephant to perform the behaviors he was asking for during the rides and performances. . . during the rides and performances, the handler was observed repeatedly jabbing and hitting the elephant with the ankus. Several times during the elephant ride, the handler used the ankus to hit the elephant and she reacted by throwing her head and changing her gait demonstrating irritation at the action of the handler. . . This is inappropriate and abusive use of the ankus and such use is likely to cause trauma, behavioral stress, physical harm or unnecessary discomfort . . . " (Emphasis added).

Queenie must not be left at the Davenports’ mercy. Ask USDA to act promptly to send her to a sanctuary!

For more information, please see http://www.helpelep hants.com/ tina_jewel_ and_queenie. html

 

 

In Defense of Animals, located in San Rafael, Calif., is an international animal protection organization with more than 85,000 members and supporters dedicated to ending the abuse and exploitation of animals by protecting their rights and welfare. IDA's efforts include educational events, cruelty investigations, boycotts, grassroots activism, and hands-on rescue through our sanctuaries in Mississippi, Mumbai, India, and Cameroon, Africa. In Defense of Animals is a registered 501©3 non-profit organization. We welcome your feedback and appreciate your donations. Please join today! All donations to IDA are tax-deductible. In Defense of Animals3010 Kerner, San Rafael, CA 94901Tel. (415) 448-0048 Fax (415) 454-1031idainfo (AT) idausa (DOT) org

 

 

 

 

 

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