FIRST WOLF PACK NOTED IN CALIFORNIA WOW, WONDERFUL NEWS

Gray wolves seem to love California! Defenders of Wildlife just learned that an entire new pack has been discovered in northern California. The pack, dubbed the "Shasta Pack," consists of a breeding pair of adults and five pups. The pups are thought to be three or four months old. This news comes just weeks after officials announced sightings of a suspected wolf caught on trail cameras in May and July. This is a landmark development in the return of wolves to their historic Golden State habitat. And because these wolves are protected by both federal and California state law, it is unlikely this new pack will face the same fate as so many of its Northern Rockies brethren. Hope for re-establishing wolves in California soared in 2011 when OR-7, the famous wandering wolf, became the first wolf in decades to enter the state. This new pack means that restoration of wolves in California is now a dream that's finally coming true. Defenders of Wildlife, have been given a second chance to restore this iconic species to a landscape they had been missing from for nearly one hundred years. We all must seize this opportunity to forge new partnerships to help wolves live in harmony with people and livestock in their California home. Please join us in celebrating California’s first wolf family of the 21st century! For the wolves

Killing of Cecil the Lion Offers Sweeping Reforms HSUS/ Please share!!!!!!! WE ARE THEIR VOICE

Since the killing of Cecil (pictured above), 38 airlines have committed to halting the shipping of the Africa Big Five. Photo by 500px Prime

The reverberations from the early July slaying of Cecil the lion continue to be felt worldwide, with the news that authorities in Zimbabwe have charged the second of two men who guided Safari Club International member Walter Palmer’s illicit trophy kill just outside the borders of Hwange National Park. “Cecil was delivered to him like a pizza,” said the Hwange Lion Research Project’s Brent Stapelkamp, who took the last photo of Cecil alive, just a month before Palmer killed, skinned, and beheaded the lion with the assistance of hunting guide Theo Bronkhurst and game park owner Honest Ndlovu. We are still awaiting word on Zimbabwe’s request to extradite Walter Palmer, who was at the center of this scheme to kill Hwange National Park’s most famous lion, and if that happens, there will be some measure of justice for all three horsemen of the Hwange apocalypse.

We’re also urging the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to finalize its proposed rule listing the African lion under the Endangered Species Act, as have dozens of members of Congress. We are hoping for final action from the agency soon, so that further imports of lion trophies will be restricted or banned from African nations.

Either way, the killers will have a hard time getting those trophies back home. Since the Cecil slaying, 38 airlines have committed to halting the shipping of the Africa Big Five.Delta, United, and American Airlines -- the big U.S.-based carriers with service to Africa -- are among the airlines to ban shipping lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and Cape buffalo trophies. UPS this week announced a good, sound policy of not shipping shark fins, but we are still awaiting a declaration from that company on its policy concerning the hunting trophies, since four species of the Africa Big Five are listed, or about to be listed, as threatened with extinction under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act.

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, D-N.J., has introduced a bill to ban all imports of trophies and parts from African lions and other at-risk species into the United States. Reps. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-TX, and Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-TX, have announced their intention to sponsor a bill to amend the Endangered Species Act to ban “all acts of senseless and perilous trophy killings.”  Lawmakers in New York and New Jersey have introduced bills to restrict imports into their states.

Right now, there are 41 trophy hunters who, just like Walter Palmer, paid a fortune to kill an animal about to get listed under the Endangered Species Act, and want a waiver from Congress to display the heads and hides of the slain animals in their homes. In the case of the 41, they killed polar bears in northern Canada. We’re fighting their import-waiver effort not just as a symbolic act to deny these trophy hunters their ill-gotten gains, but to prevent the bum rush of trophy hunters into a foreign land whenever our federal government announces that it’s going to upgrade federal protections for a declining species and restrict imports.

Finally, there is the battle we’re waging in the marketplace of ideas. We’ve answered the self-serving reasoning of the trophy-hunting clan about the value of their activity to conservation, and more than ever, people see through their pay-to-slay reasoning. People realize that trophy killing undermines wildlife conservation, is no boon to national or regional economies anywhere, and should not be countenanced or encouraged by anyone. How can anyone possibly think it’s helpful to animals to kill a dominant lion in a pride with an arrow, or to slay a large-tusked elephant, or a mature rhino with a beautiful horn? For them, I guess, it diminishes the utter selfishness of the activity by concocting some far-fetched scenario where killing a creature somehow helps the grieving, surviving family members or pride or herd mates. It’s really a travesty to think anyone could buy this drivel.

When it comes to The HSUS and Humane Society International, we’re going to devote more resources, in the near and the long term, to fight this enterprise of globe-trotting trophy hunting of the rarest, most remarkable animals in the world. If you’re willing to stand with us, and to support our worldwide campaigns against trophy killing, I’m willing to make you this promise: Cecil won’t have died in vain.

***

Here’s how you can help fight trophy hunting:

Tell Congress to stop trophy hunting >

Ask the USFWS to finalize listing African lions under the Endangered Species Act >

Ask airlines to end the transport of hunting trophies >

Ask South African Airways to recommit to a ban on hunting trophies >

Tell UPS to ban the shipment of hunting trophies >

The post Cecil Killing Offers Prospect of Sweeping Reforms appeared first on A Humane Nation.

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CONFRONTING CRUELTY, PLEASE SHARE AND SIGN!!! we can stop it, we did it before!!!!!

August 18, 2015 Share: Dear tia/poidogsanuenue,   In just a few weeks, a bull will be chased out of the town of Tordesillas by groups of men on foot and horseback wielding long spears. They’ll lure the animal into the surrounding countryside, where he’ll be taunted, prodded and eventually stabbed to death. His killer will then be celebrated as a hero. This terrible event is just one of thousands of similar spectacles held in Spain every year, spectacles in which bulls suffer tremendous pain and suffering in the name of entertainment. This has to stop now! Join us in calling on Spain’s leaders to end cruel bull fiestas, once and for all. The General Secretary of Spain's PSOE political party has personally spoken out against Toro de la Vega. Join us in calling on Spanish politicians to introduce legislation that would end animal abuse in public events like this. Last year, at an event supported by HSI, tens of thousands of Spanish citizens marched through central Madrid to make their opposition to cruel bull fiestas heard loud and clear. Neither entertainment nor culture can excuse cruelty to animals. Together, let’s urge their elected representatives in Spain to take a compassionate stand against cruelty to animals. Make your voice heard: Speak up for bulls - Sign our petition today! Thank you so much for all that you do for animals. Sincerely, Andrew Rowan President and CEO Humane Society International

Wonderful News for the Platero Project, again our outcry was heard, we did it they are safe!!!!!!!

NEWS

"Platero Project" Aims to Keep Wild Burros Wild

Photo | Mike Lorden

Thanks to a generous anonymous donor who has a special place in her heart for burros, AWHPC is now managing The Platero Project, a program dedicated to promoting awareness about America's wild burros and keeping them wild and free on the range. The project is named for the small donkey who is the main character of the poetic short story and Spanish literary classic "Platery y Yo" (Platero and Me) by Spanish Nobel Laureate Juan Ramon Jimenez. 

Wild burros have the same rich history and are as culturally significant as wild horses, but they receive far less attention. The Platero Project aims to change that by elevating the status of burros and increasing appreciation for these icons of the American Southwest. At the same time, the project will focus on initiatives to keep wild burros wild and free on the range. America's burros are in crisis due to their dwindling numbers, artificially low allowable population levels and the geographic fragmentation of the few remaining burro populations. Immediate action is needed to to ensure that America's wild burro populations will remain genetically viable and sustainable going forward into the future

Horses safe for now!!! Amazing, petitions work, we are their voice through Legal, Petitions, and news.

ACTION Salt River Wild Horse Roundup Now on Hold! Photo | Jennifer Maharry Photography After unprecedented and intense public outcry, the U.S. Forest Service has suspended its plans to round up the famous Salt River wild horses in the Tonto National Forest in Arizona. Arizona Governor Doug Ducey and U.S. Senators Jeff Flake and John McCain are among the elected officials who have added their voices to the call to protect these beloved "icons of the West." AWHPC coalition partner, the Salt River Wild Horse Management Group and their attorney, William A. Miller of Phoenix, filed a lawsuit to stop the roundup and obtain lasting protection for these beloved horses. With the roundup on hold, both parties are now working together to develop a workable plan that will permanently protect the horses and keep them in their home in the National Forest.  Thank you to the 13,000 AWHPC supporters who called and emailed the Forest Service to protest plans to eradicate these horses, and to the Animal Legal Defense Fund, which partnered with us to send a legal letter informing the Forest Service that it would be violating federal law if it proceeded with the roundup.

Please sign and share, for Cecil the Lion stop UPS and others shipping trophy cargo.

We can do this, we have done it before with India, China and more.  Lets stop the trophy hunting now and the transport of all endangered species shot and killed for trophy hunting.  Let do it together, with Humane Society International.



In the wake of the death of Cecil the lion, close to 30 airlines and most major U.S. and European carriers have ceased shipping sport hunting trophies of lions, elephants, and other big game species.But UPS continues to provide a means for trophy hunters to send their gruesome prizes home – making the company a “getaway vehicle” for the theft of African wildlife from their natural habitats.

As long as there is an easy way to ship the heads and hides they want to display, trophy hunters won't be deterred. In the past, the company has taken positive actions to refuse transportation of live animals and ivory, but it needs to take the next step now to stop the transport of wild animal trophies.

Ask UPS to join other global communities and extend its compassion to animals endangered by trophy hunting and poaching worldwide.

Please click on the above link and sign and share, Mahalo

Stop the brutally of Bali oldest dog in history!!!!!!

• overview
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On the island of Bali, thousands of innocent dogs are killed every year — often suffering slow and painful deaths.

The beautiful Bali heritage dog, possibly the oldest breed in the world, is unique to the island and the Balinese people have a very special cultural relationship with the animals. It’s outrageous these beloved and innocent dogs are being slaughtered.

However, the mass killing of roaming dogs on Bali was ordered by the island's governor who claims that they will lead to the spread of rabies. But human and animal health experts have proven that culling doesn't work to control rabies and can actually result in the spread of the disease.

Sadly many dogs that have already been vaccinated are among the victims of this slaughter.

It's time for the Bali government to stop killing these innocent animals and return to the annual, comprehensive dog vaccination programs which protect dogs and people while honoring the value these animals have to the people of Bali.

Sign the petition today and tell the Governor of Bali to stop the mass killings of the island's heritage dogs!  Just Click on the overview and sign, Mahalo,