BREAKING NEWS....... News from Humane Society of the United States, and Humane Society International is what everyone has been anxiously awaiting the news, of Yulin Festival for 2017. All of us who have worked so hard in sharing petitions, calling representatives, has become one of our greatest victories. We as a group and working with some of the top organizations, hopefully have stopped the gruesome slaughter of dogs, cats, puppies and kittens at Yulin. This is a milestone for all of us who do not stop in saving and protecting all animals no matter where it may take us and what opposition we may face. We cannot never falter in signing petitions, calling on our representatives and sharing the word with everyone. Please share, Mahalo

Dog meat sales are reportedly banned at China’s Yulin festival.

Breaking News....  just weeks ahead of the annual dog meat festival in Yulin, China, we received reliable reports from the ground that the Yulin government has notified traders to stop dog meat sales during the 'festival,' in what is likely to be a ban for this year's event. The Yulin event has been one of the most significant animal cruelty festivals in the world, with thousands of dogs and cats brutally bludgeoned to death and sold for their meat. While we recognize that this ban is temporary, it's a very hopeful sign that Yulin will permanently end the brutal mass slaughter of dogs for human consumption. This milestone comes just a month after the Taiwan legislature announced a permanent ban on the sale and consumption of dog and cat meat and in the same month that dog meat traders at a market in South Korea have been ordered to close their stalls. Thank you for all your efforts to help end the dog meat trade -- you make remarkable progress for animals like this happen. Together, we'll continue our fight to shut down this cruel industry for good. Read more about this welcome news on my blog» Thank you for all you do for animals. Wayne Pacelle, President & CEO

Breaking News.. Another lawsuit has been filed against the current administration. I wanted to make sure everyone reads the message from Kieran Suckling CEO of the Center of Biological Diversity. The federal Wildlife Services program is a rogue organization that eludes the public eye. In 2015 it killed more than 250,000 animals in Idaho alone, using a shocking variety of brutal methods from aerial gunning to cyanide landmines, neck snares, body-crushing traps, poisoned bait and even deadly gas canisters that kill whole families of animals where they sleep. More species of animals have been slaughtered in their habitats, and dens in 2016 then ever before. They are taking the Trump administration to court to stop this ugly slaughter, but they need everyone's support to win. If one can donate their time by sharing posts, letters, and or money and very little monetary donation, this will help to bring these slaughters to a halt and expose the government services and what they have done. Mahalo

The Center for Biological Diversity and allies just sued the Trump administration to shut down the government's wildlife killing in Idaho. Our newest suit targets the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program, which killed thousands of animals last year in the        state including wolves, coyotes, bears, mountain lions and foxes. The slaughter has to be stopped. Help us end it with a gift to our Trump Resistance Fund today. Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar. This is the 16th lawsuit the Center has filed against the Trump administration, which is bent on doing everything it can to wipe out wildlife, pollute our air and destroy public lands. Wildlife Services is a rogue government program that operates out of public view. Last year it slaughtered 2.7 million animals across the country -- mostly to appease ranching and agricultural interests. The program's plan for Idaho is as misguided as it is cruel, using aerial gunners, exploding poisons and deadly traps. Lawsuits fighting Trump are expensive but critical to protecting wildlife. Please make a matched donation to the Center's Trump Resistance Fund. Wildlife Services' tactics don't just threaten targeted species -- their indiscriminate cyanide landmines have killed endangered wolves and family pets. They even caused the recent hospitalization of a teenage boy, and the death of his dog, when the two stumbled on a cyanide device during a walk near their home. This is the third suit we've filed against Trump's administration to stop Wildlife Services' brutal wildlife-killing tactics -- and we need you by our side. For the wild,

Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity

News from Washington D.C. Horse Slaughter.. I was sent a letter and I wish to share an important issue that is coming up for vote with everyone.. Many people may not receive emails or visits from ASPCA, Washington. D.C from their Legislative Engagement Team, but this past March I did meet with them. The topic was the annual vote on the Dent Amendment to hopefully stop the opening of Horse Slaughter Plants throughout every state in the union. Horse slaughter is the most inherently inhumane action taken against horse especially. The horse has an instinctual flight response makes them ill suited for stunning. They will endure repeated blows to head and body and can remain conscious during dismemberment. The US Department of Agriculture documented rampant cruelty and barbaric action violations when horse slaughterhouses were operating throughout the U.S. The USDA reports that over 92% of the horses sent to slaughter are healthy animals that can lead a full life in loving homes. Horsemeat is unsafe for human consumption, do to the fact that they are not raised for food in this country. More than 80% of American voters oppose the slaughter of these peaceful and productive animals and definitely not for human consumptions. We need to fight this bill for funding every year until the SAFE ACT is put in place to prohibit all slaughter of horses in the United States and their export to other countries for the purpose of SLAUGHTER!!!!!!! Please if you are reading this Blog I would assume you fingers are not broken and your heart is in the right place. If you are able to use your phone or computer, please take the time to comment regarding this issue to your state representative. ASPCA has made it very easy for everyone, just click on the word "here" and reach out. We do not have much time, I myself have spoken to Florida and Alabama State Representatives regarding this issue and have sent email and faxed letters to their offices. ONLY YOU CAN SAVE OUR HORSES!!!! We know that in 2016 more than 125000 horses went to slaughter across borders, but we also know that ASPCA had homes for all the horses. PLEASE SHARE.. and SUPPORT THE DENT AMENDMENT.. Mahalo

This spring we have been working diligently with you to gain traction on the SAFE Act (H.R. 113) and raise awareness and support for the funding limitation amendment to prohibit horse slaughter plant inspections. We must pass this amendment each year to ensure that plants do not reopen in the United States.  The funding limitation amendment, (known as the Dent Amendment), is our priority focus at this time since the annual appropriations vote will come up within the next few months. This gives us little time to reach out to Appropriations Committee members to ask for their support. The information below compares these two pieces of legislation and clarifies their differences.    Safeguard American Food Exports (SAFE) Act  The SAFE Act would prohibit the slaughter of horses for human consumption in the United States and their export for that purpose. The SAFE Act is gaining cosponsors in the House of Representatives but has not yet been introduced in the Senate.  Dent Amendment  Since 2005, this provision has been adopted as an amendment to the annual Agriculture Appropriations bill that dictates how the USDA can and cannot spend its budget during the fiscal year in question. The language prohibits the USDA from funding inspections of horse slaughter plants. Since slaughter facilities cannot legally conduct business without federal inspections, this language effectively prevents horse slaughter plants from operating in the U.S. Ensuring this annual funding prohibition is adopted each year is critical to our overarching goal of passing the SAFE Act.

Take Action! SAFE Act  The SAFE Act now has 112 cosponsors but still needs more support. Please view the cosponsor list here. If your representative is not yet a cosponsor, reach out to ask him or her to support this important bill. If your representative is a cosponsor, reach out to say THANK YOU!  Take Action!  Dent Amendment If your representative sits on the Appropriations Committee, listed here, please reach out and ask him or her to vote YES on the Dent Amendment. If Congressman Dent is your representative, please reach out and say THANK YOU for your leadership!

If you don't know who represents you in the House of Representatives, you can find his or her name and contact information here.  Help a Horse Day Whether as working partners or recreational companions, horses have captured the hearts of thousands of pet owners. Help a Horse Day, observed each April 26 with special events across the country, celebrates these beautiful animals and raises awareness about the plight of abandoned, neglected and abused horses. The day also recognizes equine rescue organizations’ hard work to address these issues. Visit the ASPCA's Help a Horse Day page to learn more about how to get involved next year, and stay tuned for the ASPCA's Help a Horse Day Contest winner announcement in our next newsletter! Raising Horse Slaughter Awareness on Capitol Hill  On April 26, national Help a Horse Day, actor Huw Collins (Pretty Little Liars) joined the ASPCA for an afternoon at Gentle Giants Draft Horse Rescue of Mt. Airy, Maryland to meet the rescue's dedicated staff and 109 rescued horses. The next day, Huw hoofed it up to Capitol Hill to speak about horse slaughter at a congressional briefing on the SAFE Act. Other speakers included sportscaster Bonnie-Jill Laflin, SAFE Act lead sponsors Jan Schakowsky (D-Illinois) and Ed Royce (R-California), and Congressional Animal Protection Caucus (CAPC) co-chairs Vern Buchanan (R-Florida) and Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon). The ASPCA joined the Humane Society Legislative Fund, the Animal Welfare Institute and CAPC in co-hosting the event. You can read more about this event here.   Don't Stall—Take Action Now! Will you be a Citizen Cosponsor of the SAFE Act and urge your family and friends to do the same? Help us to remind Congress that the majority of Americans strongly oppose horse slaughter and are making passage of the SAFE Act a priority! Please sign this list to speak up for horses, and share it with everyone you know.  Thank you for your continued dedication—please keep up your hard work this month as we move forward with our mission to protect horses! All the best, Audrey Tamez, Senior Manager of Legislative Engagement

Breaking News and Updates.. Center For Biological Diversity advances lawsuit #15 on the Trump Administration.. Wow.. another lawsuit on their agenda. They have 15 ongoing right now protecting Endangered Species, Pipeline Drilling just off the Sioux Reservation, Climate Change, EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) and many more. This lawsuit is regarding the overriding of President Obama's permanent ban on any new drilling in the Arctic. Please join them in their fight to protect our environment, endangered species, our bears, wolves, our entire heritage of wildlife, forests and oceans for our future generations. Sharing is a marvelous way to help and spread the word, or you can click on the link below and help monetarily if you can. ($1.00 from everyone is alot) Mahalo to everyone and what each of us do for animals and our environment.

Protect the Arctic join the Trump Resistance Fund today. Just moments ago, we went to court again to fight President Trump. This morning's lawsuit targets Trump's executive order on Friday scrapping Obama's permanent ban on new oil drilling in the Arctic and parts of the Atlantic. The new order puts thousands of square miles of ocean ecosystems -- including critical habitat for polar bears -- on the industry chopping block. This is the 15th time the Center for Biological Diversity has taken Trump to court since he got into office -- and we need your help to sustain our unyielding campaign. With your support we will resist this president's abuses. Please give to theTrump Resistance Fund to help us fight this attack on marine life and the climate. Your gift will be matched dollar for dollar. Trump's latest executive order is a blatant attempt to help his super-rich friends drill in the heart of the pristine Arctic -- home to polar bears and ice seals already desperately struggling to survive the onslaught of climate change. Big Oil and Gas doesn't belong in Arctic waters: An oil spill would be impossible to clean up, and the nearest Coast Guard station is 1,000 miles away. That's why we've gone right to court to make the nightmare end. Trump is abusing his powers, but we've got the law -- and a growing political resistance network -- on our side. Earth to Trump: We'll see you in court. For the wild, Kierán Suckling Executive Director Center for Biological Diversity "No life is better than another and all life was created with purpose" Life in any form is precious Mahalo

Breaking News from Humane Society U.S.. I have attached their letter regarding the animal issues that have been resolved in the month of April. There are some small victories and big victories, but for many of us regarding animal welfare and their protection laws all victories are huge. These victories included animal welfare and the damaging anti-protection riders that attach to these bills. Working with our Representatives, and Senators, they stopped many of the damaging riders. USDA ruled to end all horse soring on all farms( e.g. Tennessee Walkers). The National Park Service ruled barring all barbaric action against killing Grizzley's, and all wolves, (endangered) on Alaska preserves. Terrific news for Florida, as the Black Bear Hunt is halted and no further action will be taken until 2019. In Los Angeles they voted to ban all wildlife and exotic animals from the entertainment industry. Humane Society U.S. and their affiliates e.g. Humane Society International work with legislation, and educate government officials of other countries the importance of animal protection, the inhumane dog meat trade and to halt the slaughtering of Endangered Species. These are important issues for everyone and we have some grand victories. Please share Mahalo

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Congress passed a spending bill that advances animal welfare and avoids damaging cuts. Working with our allies in the House and Senate, we staved off several anti-animal-protection riders, held the line on enforcement funding for critical animal protection programs and even won new provisions and declarations that could help tens of thousands of animals in the months ahead. Luckily, the bill also contained no harmful language to block important reforms, including a USDA rule to strengthen organic animal welfare standards, a USDA rule to end horse soring (which is currently frozen) and a National Park Service rule barring inhumane hunting practices to kill grizzly bears and wolves on National Preserves in Alaska. In other news, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission voted by a 4-3 margin not to proceed with a black bear hunt. The especially good news is that the commissioners voted to maintain the moratorium through the end of 2018 and to delay revisiting the issue until 2019. The city council of Los Angeles, which is the nation’s second largest city and the capital of the entertainment industry, unanimously voted to ban the exhibition of wild or exotic animals for entertainment, including circuses, other wild animal shows, displays in public areas such as on sidewalks or parks and rentals for house parties or events. And in Georgia, our Animal Rescue Team helped save animals from a property in Habersham County, pulling more than 350 dogs, cats and other animals from squalid conditions there. Donkeys, a horse, bunnies, chickens, ducks, geese, goats, sheep and an alpaca were moving around in search of clean water. Hundreds of dogs had been living in their own waste and many were suffering from a variety of skin and eye conditions. Our team was on the ground, constructing an emergency shelter and giving the animals nourishment, water and medical attention. We need laws and enforcement to prevent this kind of cruelty. And that’s why we work on both fronts to come to the aid of animals in crisis and also to create a legal framework to avoid this sort of scenario in the first place. Everyone's support helps strengthen our efforts and we could not celebrate these achievements without you. Thank you for standing with us. --Wayne Wayne Pacelle President and CEO The Humane Society of the United States 1255 23rd Street, NW, Suite 450   Washington, DC 20037

WIN for Wolves: Great Lakes wolf delisting kept out of spending bill | Endangered Species Coalition

A Big Mahalo to everyone that called, sent emails, visited their representatives, signed the Coalition's petitions, pressure from activists and other organizations our Great Lake Wolves will continue to be protected by the Endangered Species Act.  New Legislation definitely would have stripped their their rights for protection.



Please, please take the time to sign the petition to give thanks to all in Congress that kept their promise to save our wolves.   Mahalo



"All life is precious and no life is greater than another"



Wolves are our greatest asset to balancing our ecosystems !!!!





WIN for Wolves: Great Lakes wolf delisting kept out of spending bill | Endangered Species Coalition

Breaking News from PETA India.. I have enclosed for your reading their updated Newsletter and highlights of their dedicated work.. PETA India, based in Mumbai, was launched in January 2000. PETA India operates under the simple principle that animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on or use for entertainment. They continue educating government officials and the public regarding animal abuse and advocating the understanding that all animals are to be treated with respect and dignity. PETA India like that of PETA U.S. UK, Netherlands, Australia, France, Germany, and Asia, also do investigative work, public and school education, research, animal rescues, legislative work, special events, celebrity involvement and national media coverage. Coverage that has resulted in countless improvements to the quality of life for animals and have saved countless animals’ lives. The CEO of PETA India Poorva Joshipura has always enjoyed learning all she could about animals, and their behaviors. Chickens were found to have excellent cognitive abilities, possibly better that dogs or cats. Fish and the Fisheries cited more than 500 research documents regarding the intelligence of fish and their abilities to create very sophisticated social structures and have an impressive long term memory. (like elephants never forget) Cows are extremely intelligent Animal behaviorists found cows will interact in socially complex ways, they develop friendships and can hold grudges not only against other cattle, but people who have treated them with abusive actions and neglect. Animal abusing people continue to threaten PETA India, but knowing their strengths and convictions the CEO, the veterinarian's and the concerned people of India will prev-vail. After researching a lot of material, maybe it is time to think about what we are eating since the facts are starring us in the face. Remember "No life is better than another and all life was created with purpose" Mahalo

	From rescuing animals from lives of torment to motivating children to take action for animals, there is no limit to what Animal Rahat can achieve with the help of compassionate people.  I hope you enjoy reading about some of last month's highlights—and don't miss the photo of Guddi and Hershey at the end. Can you imagine what it would be like if you woke up with every joint aching and you were barely able to see? Upon standing, you groaned in pain because you were missing flesh from your feet, and then someone forced you to perform hard labor on hot pavement all day long. That was the life of Animal Rahat's newest sanctuary resident—a horse named Badal.
	The group helped confiscate Badal from a Victoria (carriage) driver in Mumbai. He had been forced to haul tourists, despite suffering from eye problems, osteoarthritis, and a degenerative joint disorder called "ringbone." He also had a painful infection called "thrush" in all four hooves. Do you see that black V-shaped area? That's supposed to be healthy tissue, but it's almost completely decomposed! Finally Badal is getting the care that he deserves. Never again will he haul a carriage, feel the sting of the whip, stand on burning-hot pavement, dodge traffic, or be denied food, water, or the simple pleasure of resting in the shade.
	Among the 1,541 animals Animal Rahat provided with crucial veterinary care last month was this bullock who had squamous cell carcinoma in one of his eyes. The disease can be caused by unrelenting exposure to the sun's rays as well as from the toxic powders that are used to decorate bullocks for holidays—or even from the salt and chili peppers that abusive owners rub into their eyes in order to force them to go faster. Animal Rahat removed this dear bullock's eye, and he is recovering well. The group also painlessly neutered 14 young bulls through anesthetized surgery, thereby sparing them the traditional method in which a crude tool is used to crush the testes' blood vessels and nerves—without any pain relief whatsoever. Thanks to Animal Rahat's efforts, it is now illegal to neuter a bull without anesthetics, but unfortunately, enforcement of that law is lax. The team often invites government veterinarians to observe the anesthetized procedure in order to speed its adoption throughout the profession.
	From the pleasantly surprised expression on this bullock's face, it seems that he is enjoying the novel sensation of being brushed by his owner. Animal Rahat regularly gives grooming lessons to bullock owners—many of whom have never done it before—and stresses the importance of making it a daily habit. In addition to ridding the animals' skin of dirt and bugs, grooming is a form of positive reinforcement that increases bullocks' trust and strengthens their bond with their owners. It also decreases their fear and makes them calmer—which, in turn, makes the owners less likely to use pain and force to control them. This past month as a result of Animal Rahat's outreach, 46 bullock owners pledged to begin grooming their bullocks regularly. The smiling children pictured above are engaged in a Compassionate Citizen lesson presented by Animal Rahat's education coordinator. This was one of 36 schools that hosted the group's presentations last month, along with six orphanages and two summer camps. And the students are turning their lessons into action. For example, many children started putting water out for birds after Animal Rahat told them that birds need reliable water sources during the current dry season.
	Some of the organization's other achievements last month include the following: Removing hobbling devices from dozens of donkeys, goats, and other animals Persuading a farmer to switch from 24-hour tethering to a mukta gotha (loose housing) system, which will enable his bullocks and cows to walk about freely in a corral Erecting five more billboards at dump sites urging people to help prevent dogs and other animals from suffocating by tightly securing lids before disposing of empty food jars Persuading 22 bullock owners to paint their water tanks with lime to prevent parasites Spaying and neutering 72 "community dogs"
	I'll leave you with a few more sanctuary photos. You may remember Lalu, a buffalo calf who was about to be sold for slaughter last November when Animal Rahat intervened. He was weak and anemic when he first came aboard, but he's quite healthy now. Here he is (above) enjoying a shower, courtesy of one of the sanctuary caretakers. If you remember Hershey—pictured below when I rescued her as a petite pup in November—you might be surprised by how fast she's grown.
	Here she is (above) with her friend Guddi—another rescued dog—taking a dip in the pond. Guddi's still got a few inches on her, but she's catching up fast! Animal Rahat is grateful to everyone who provides it with the support that it needs in order to make a difference in the lives of animals like Hershey, Lalu, Badal, and thousands more every year. Thank you so much for caring about this important work. Kind regards, Ingrid E. Newkirk Founder