Letters to the Editor per Trophy Hunting in AK

To the Editor:

I was outraged that the US House of Representatives, passed H.J. Resolution 69, authored by Alaska’s Rep. Don Young. It is the most cruel, heartless anti-wildlife maneuver I have seen in my lifetime.

This rule will overturn a Federal rule years in the making, crafted by professional wildlife managers, aimed at stopping some of the most horrific hunting practices imaginable including killing wolf pups in the den, killing hibernating mother bears and cubs, scouting grizzly bears from aircraft and then shooting them after landing, and trapping grizzly and black bears with steel-jawed leg hold traps and snares. These practices are inhumane and should remain illegal. 

This Resolution, endorsed by the NRA, Safari Club International and other trophy hunting lobbyists, will allow these atrocities Alaska’s National Wildlife Refuges—publicly owned land paid for at taxpayer expense. Wildlife watchers outnumber hunters by 5:1 in AK & spend five times more than hunters!

The Senate will soon vote on the companion joint resolution, Senate Joint Resolution 18. Please call Sens. Corker and Alexander, and let them know their constituents do not support these activities on our federal public lands. Urge them to vote “no” on S.J. Res. 18!

Mary Marr

Twitter Tweets Per the @USDA

🐦 Twitter peeps: will you copy and post one of these today:

.@USDA animal welfare records are taxpayer funded. Restore now. #noblackout

Animal abusers should not be protected @USDA. Restore all records now. #noblackout

.@USDA do not hide animal abusers and their cruel actions. Restore animal welfare records now. #noblackout

.<@yourlegislator’s TwitterHandle> please urge @USDA to restore all animal welfare records.#noblackout

Mary at the HSUS in Washington, DC last year

If you want to politely call the USDA today, let me know and I'll give you the number. 👌🏼

HSUS Takes Action to Challenge USDA's Removal of Abuse Records

We were so close to having our horse soring rules come to fruition, then last week a 'freeze' came out from the government, stating that all new rules would be reviewed first. A terrible blow to so many who have worked so hard to get this passed. Then, later in the week, word came out that the USDA (our partner in the recent horse soring campaign) had removed all records pertaining to animal welfare from their website. Needless to say, this has caused an uproar in our humane education and animal activism community.

I'm coming to the conclusion that we need to decide as a nation if we care about humane legislation or not. Why does it take years upon years, and then ridiculous setbacks, to simply create a society that doesn't abuse the most vulnerable? This is a terrible heartbreak for me and many others.

Do you feel the same? Please read on for ways to help.

HSUS Puppy Mill image

Today the HSUS sent a strongly worded notice to the USDA per their taking down all abuse records from their site last week.The notice outlines the ways in which the USDA's actions are in violation of our prior agreement. You can read the full notice here in PDF form (from the HSUS blog):

http://blog.humanesociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2017-02-06-Notice-of-Violation_HSUS-v-USDA-No.-15-0197.pdf

Please share the link to the notice and help us keep the pressure up for these records to be returned to the public's view.

We also have a blog post that outlines the impact of these actions in easy to understand points:


http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2017/02/hsus-challenges-usda-mass-removal-animal-welfare-records.html?credit=blog_post_020617_id8766

IF you are looking for ways to help, please sign the petition mentioned in the post and share these details with your network.

The petition link: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/304/134/376/

I would like to publicly thank Laura J. Fox, counsel for HSUS, and also Kimberly D. Ockene, Senior Attorney for HSUS, for writing the notice and keeping us informed throughout the process. We have the best of the best taking this on, but we need support from citizens and animal activists.

To keep up with this situation, follow the HSUS on all social media. In addition to Wayne's blog linked above, you can find our TN Puppy Mill Awareness Task Force on Facebook.

Thank you. Any comments or feedback welcome, please post below.