Letters

[Guest guest]

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 2009:

 

 

Letters

 

[excerpts]

 

 

TNR in Armenia

 

In collaboration with the Humane Society of the United

States, we have founded the first-ever spay/neuter project in the

former Soviet Republic of Armenia, where dogs and puppies are at

times still shot in the streets.

In 2008 the HSUS Remote Area Veterinary Services team, led

by Jennifer Scarlett, DVM, traveled to the capital city of Armenia

to train veterinary students and several working veterinarians in

trap/neuter/ release technique. After the training, we hired one of

the graduates of the class, and sterilized more than 100 dogs in a

pilot TNR program. We tagged and collared the dogs, and posted signs

where we returned the fixed dogs explaining that the mayor ordered

that these dogs not be shot. We began receiving calls from residents

seeking to help more dogs.

In April 2009 we are sending two Armenian veterinarians to

Romania for TNR training, who will be employed full time at a new

farm/shelter/sanctuary, Armenia's first ever, to perform TNR with 50

dogs per week.

Who said that an entirely volunteer organization can't do much?

--Garo Alexanian

Companion Animal Network

P.O. Box 656712

Fresh Meadows, NY 11365

Phone: 718-544-PETS

<info

<www.companionanimalnetworktv.org>

 

 

PAWS arranged a last meal for doomed pigs

 

I represented the Philippine Animal Welfare Society at

Bulacan on March 1, 2009, when officials began culling 6,011 pigs

due to an outbreak of the Reston strain of Ebola virus.

Secretary Eric Tayag of the Philippine Department of Health

had informed us that the decision to kill all the pigs, even those

who were not infected or had not been tested, was final and

non-negotiable. The best that PAWS could do at that point was to

encourage government officials to use the most humane possible

methods.

Some newspapers erroneously reported that the pigs would be

electrically stunned. The equipment actually used were penetrating

captive bolts--an irreversible stunning method that results in

immediate death because the bolt penetrates both the skull and the

brain. Police were on standby with guns using .22 caliber bullets,

as provided by the Philippine Animal Welfare Act, in case the

captive bolts did not do the job.

Only five captive bolts were available for the culling.

These were on loan to the government by the supplier. Three of the

five captive bolts jammed during the first hour. The police

were told to shoot the remainder of a truckload of 50 pigs. Most of

the pigs were moving when shot. Because the shots were not accurate,

the pigs had to be shot three or four times before they died.

I had already asked if there was a way to hold the pigs to

ensure more accuracy, and to have the pigs shot out of sight of the

other pigs who were waiting to be killed. However, I was told that

this was not possible because of the volume of pigs and the limited

budget and resources that the government had for culling them.

Based on what I observed--which was personally very traumatic

for me-- PAWS' recommendations were to:

1. Refine how pigs were handled. Some piglets were held by

the ear or by one leg while being transferred from their pens to the

truck that took them to their deaths.

2. Keep the captive bolts in good repair, as this is a

more humane method of killing than the use of guns. Although the

jammed captive bolts were eventually repaired, half of each batch of

pigs were shot by the police, because of the large numbers who have

to be put down each day. The official target was to kill 1,000 a day.

3. Ensure that no pigs are thrown into the dead pit still

alive, as happened to two pigs on the first day. They were

immediately shot when police finally found them.

4. Ensure that pigs will be fed up until the last day. To

our horror, we were informed on our March 1 visit to the farm that

the pigs were last fed on February 24--which meant that the condemned

pigs had been living for days on only water. We pressured government

officials to direct the farm owner to feed the pigs immediately, and

to monitor the feeding until the culling was completed on March 6.

I wish I had recorded the sound of the hungry pigs when they were

fed. I will never forget it as long as I live.

We also recommended that pigs weighing 110 kilograms or more

be bled out, even after the use of the captive bolt, to make sure

that death comes quicker.

We tried to be as diplomatic as possible. This is the first

time a Philippine animal welfare group has been called to supervise

culling. We want this to continue, to ensure that animals are not

burned or buried alive in the future, if culling is to be done.

--Anna Cabrera

Program Director

Philippine Animal Welfare Society

87 Small Horseshoe Drive

New Manila, 1112 Quezon City

Metro Manila, Philippines

<philpaws

<www.Paws.Org.Ph>

 

 

 

The cause of disaster

 

Your March, 2009 cover article " Hell and high water hit Down

Under " described the major negative effects on animals and humans in

Australia caused by severe drought and major wild fires in one

section of the country, and major flooding in another. This should

be still another wake-up call to the need for major changes to avoid

an unprecedented international catastrophe due to global warming.

The animal rights movement can and should help to avoid that

potential catastrophe by increasing awareness of the major role that

animal-based agriculture plays in producing global warming.

According to the 2006 United Nations report Livestock's Long Shadow,

animal agriculture emits more greenhouse gases than all means of

transportation worldwide combined. This same report indicates that

the number of farmed animals is projected to double in the next 50

years. If that happens, the increased greenhouse gas emissions will

negate improvements from many positive changes, such as switches to

more efficient light bulbs, cars, etc.

Hence a major shift to vegetarian and preferably vegan diets

is essential to move our imperiled planet to a sustainable path.

Animal welfare and rights groups should make getting this essential

message out a major priority

--Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.

President

Jewish Vegetarians

of North America

and Society of Ethical &

Religious Vegetarians

Phone: 718-761-5876

Fax: 718-982-3631

<rschw12345

 

 

 

 

 

--

Merritt Clifton

Editor, ANIMAL PEOPLE

P.O. Box 960

Clinton, WA 98236

 

Telephone: 360-579-2505

Fax: 360-579-2575

E-mail: anmlpepl

Web: www.animalpeoplenews.org

 

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