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Gemma Atkinson, Fred Willard, Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast "Sanctuary", Endangered Species Act...

  • Writer: Don Lichterman
    Don Lichterman
  • Aug 21, 2019
  • 5 min read

Actress Gemma Atkinson calls for a ban on greyhound racing and coursing and more more on the weekly Animal & Wildlife Welfare, Abuse & Crime Report!

Actress Gemma Atkinson has joined calls for a ban on cruel greyhound racing and hare coursing.

Hits Radio UK presenter Gemma - best known for her roles in Emmerdale, Hollyoaks and Casualty and appearances in films such as Fever and Devil’s Pass - is a true friend of the animals.

She has previously expressed support for a ban on foxhunting and trophy hunting, highlighted the cruelty of bullfighting and urged the public to boycott Pamplona bullrun and other festivals involving cruelty to animals.

In a message to ICABS this week, she stated: “I don’t believe any animal should be used as so-called 'sport' or 'entertainment'. It’s cruel, it’s unnecessary and it has to stop”.

A big thank you to Gemma for her support. Help stop greyhound racing and hare coursing by signing our petitions and responding to the action alert below.

Visit our gallery to see the other actors/singers/directors/writers/presenters calling for a ban on greyhound racing and hare coursing https://www.facebook.com/pg/banbloodsports/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2315886091860269

STOP THE STATE FUNDING FOR GREYHOUND RACING Since 2001, the Irish Government has paid out around a quarter of a billion euros of taxpayers' money to greyhound racing, including €16.8 million for 2019. Following the shocking RTE Investigates revelations about cruelty and killing, it is time for these grants to be finally ended. Not a single cent more of public funds should end up in this shameful industry. Contact Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe now.


Colorado bans animal abusers from owning pets. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) signed legislation this week that bans animal abusers in the state from being able to own a pet for up to five years.


The governor's office said in a release that he signed the legislation, also known as "Animal Ban For Cruelty To Animals Conviction," as one of several efforts to commemorate Animal Welfare Day in the state on Wednesday.


Under the legislation, the bill states that a court can enter an "order prohibiting a person convicted of felony animal cruelty from owning a pet animal for a period of 3 to 5 years."

The bill also states that a juvenile convicted of animal cruelty can also be "adjudicated a delinquent for an animal cruelty crime from owning a pet animal."


Polis said the law will "increase restrictions of people convicted of felony pet animal cruelty, and facilitate mental health and treatments to address the underlying factors that drive tragic animal cruelty" in a statement seen by a local CBS station.


The governor also announced a new effort called the People for Animal Welfare (PAW) Committee in Colorado this week, which he called "an opportunity to look at what Colorado can do to protect our animals from cruelty and ensure their wellbeing."


According to his office, the committee will "play an advisory role on the state of issues related to animal welfare and animal protection in Colorado."

Our Petition for Protection is in defense of the animals who depend on the protections granted by the Endangered Species Act (ESA). As you may have heard, the government recently declared that it would change the way the ESA is applied, significantly weakening the nation’s bedrock conservation law and making it harder to protect animals.


The new rule makes it easier to remove a species from the endangered list and significantly weakens protections for newly listed threatened species.For the first time, regulators will be allowed to conduct economic assessments when deciding if a species warrants protections — weighing animal lives against profits.The changes also make it extremely difficult for regulators to factor in the effects of climate change on wildlife.


The Animal Legal Defense Fund has relied on the ESA to rescue captive wild animals from horrible situations. In 2016, the Animal Legal Defense Fund became the first to successfully use the ESA on behalf of captive wild animals held at Cricket Hollow Zoo in Iowa — establishing that failing to provide captive animals with the proper care can be a violation of the ESA.


If the government succeeds in rolling back vital provisions of the ESA, animals will suffer the consequences — and there would be no federal law to protect them.




If this rule stands, future generations of threatened and endangered species might be pushed to extinction. I don’t want to wake up one day and live in a world without tigers, chimpanzees, elephants, or blue whales. Do you?

Fred Willard: Fish Don't Get the Respect They Deserve


Babies carelessly passed around for photo ops, elephants stabbed with sharp objects, camels smacked in the face with sticks — all of this is a DIRECT result of people still paying for attractions that exploit captive animals!

Learn about animal-friendly travel at https://www.peta.org/vacation and http://www.peta.org/travel

Big Cat Habitat and Gulf Coast "Sanctuary" is a far cry from a true animal sanctuary. Many animals are confined to pitifully small cages, including a capuchin monkey who was seen repeatedly raking a hard object across the bars of his cage, which is a sign of psychological distress. Please ask the roadside zoo to retire all the animals to reputable sanctuaries today!


Take Action, Responsibility & Wildlife...

"Corporations Are People Too My Friends."
Our companies are known for creating products that enhance people's lives.  Through Sunset Corporation of America and its companies, we’re equally dedicated to improving lives.  Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.

The Sustainable Action Network (SAN), A Don Lichterman non-profit organization dedicated to building a global community raising awareness of corruption, injustice and the need for action across a full range of issues impacting people and animal/wildlife welfare around the world, such as conservation, climate change, campaign law, lobbying, government action and rescue work. SAN’s vision is to create safer world, free from political, environmental, and social oppression, where all the inhabitants of Earth can live in harmony within their own natural environments. Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.


Activism and Sustainability:

  • Gun Safety & Gun Laws

  • Cruelty Free

  • Death Penalty

  • Demand Action

  • Sustainable Action Network

Fairness and Equality:

  • Grammy District Advocacy

  • Privatization

  • Voters Issues & Gerrymandering

  • Private Prisons & the War on Drugs

  • Finance, Housing & the Economy Corporate Responsibility:

  • Candidates, Bills, Laws & Protections

  • Wildlife & Oceania

  • Labeling & Transparency

  • Comprehensive Captivity & Hunting Results Databases




Death Penalty Focus, Trump Admin & the DOJ & “The death penalty is about us” Sister Helen Prejean

  • Writer: Don Lichterman
    Don Lichterman
  • Aug 20, 2019
  • 6 min read

“The death penalty is about us”: Sister Helen Prejean on humanizing death row prisoners

For over three decades, author and activist Sister Helen Prejean has accompanied prisoners on death row and advocated against the death penalty across the U.S.


Her story is portrayed in the award-winning film adaption of her first book “Dead Man Walking: An Eyewitness Account of the Death Penalty in the United States” about accompanying prisoners facing the death penalty, which she has always been driven to do out of her belief that “everybody is worth more than the worst thing they’ve ever done.”


Prejean spoke with us about meeting Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the convicted Boston Marathon bomber, five times over the course of 2015 and testifying on his behalf.


"All of the words I could get before the jury were, ‘he is a human being and he felt sorrow for what he did.’ I showed why I could say that … because I had met him.” #DemocracyNow


In the wake of several deadly shootings in the past few weeks, the Trump Administration is calling for a speeded-up death penalty for mass shooters and those who kill law enforcement officers.


The call comes on the heels of an announcement that the government plans to begin executing federal prisoners again after a 16-year hiatus.Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens died late last month.


After his retirement from the high Court Stevens revealed his opposition to the death penalty.


DPF filed an amicus letter last week in support of a motion in the California Supreme Court asking the Court to halt death penalty charges while the moratorium is in place.


Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a brief in the PA Supreme Court maintaining that the death penalty is unconstitutional, joining an increasing number of DAs in death penalty states calling for an end to the death penalty.


A sociology professor explains why he’s convinced the death penalty is dying in spite of the Trump Administration’s zeal for capital punishment.


You’ll find all that, plus a quick rundown of death penalty developments around the country, and a few reading suggestions below.


But first, we also wanted to let you know about a special event we're hosting next month. Please join us for a reception for Sister Helen Prejean in celebration of the release of her new memoir, River of Fire, at Book Passage in Corte Madera, California, at 6 p.m. on Thursday, September 5.


Sister Helen is the author of the seminal book Dead Man Walking, and has spent decades campaigning against the death penalty. Click here to purchase tickets. For more information email yoko@deathpenalty.org, or call 415-243-0143. We hope to see you there!


The “machinery of death” will shift into high gear in the next few months if the Department of Justice gets its way.


On Monday, Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice will propose legislation to speed up death penalty trials for defendants accused of mass murder, or the killing of a law enforcement officer. “There will be a strict timetable for judicial proceedings that will allow the imposition of the death sentence without undue delay. Punishment must be swift and certain,” Barr told a law enforcement conference in New Orleans, according to CNN.


This announcement came on the heels of Barr’s disclosure late last month that DOJ plans to resume federal executions after a 16-year hiatus. The AG says the government will execute five men over a five-week period beginning December 9 and ending January 15. The Federal Bureau of Prisons plans to use a single drug, pentobarbital, replacing the three-drug procedure it has previously used.


Both announcements were met with surprise and dismay.


Reason responded to the call for a speeded up death penalty process by noting that, “Not only should the wrongfully convicted have a right to appeal, but the slower-paced process already has a slew of institutional problems that could only be exacerbated with less review . .


. . . An expedited death penalty reduces the chances that an innocent prisoner will be exonerated in time.”


The subhead to the Reason article was “Politicians never hesitate to exploit a tragedy,” and that is exactly what this president is doing. He is exploiting a tragedy. Statistics prove the death penalty will not curtail the scourge of mass killings. Texas and Ohio actively engage in the practice of the death penalty. And, in Texas and Ohio this weekend, the death penalty did nothing to deter the bloodshed.


Earlier this month, USA Today published an illustration demonstrating the increase in mass killings in the United State since 1966. What the graphic shows – and what few death penalty supporters acknowledge – is that all shootings of 10 or more, except for the 26 killed at Sandy Hook, occurred in states which practice the death penalty.


The announcement that the state is planning to begin executing federal prisoners again brought an even more outraged response.


“As a lifelong conservative, I believe this is a step in the wrong direction. The problems that have plagued the death penalty at the state level — the risk of executing the innocent, arbitrariness and bias, high costs, a lack of deterrence and the failure to deliver ‘closure’ to victims’ families — exist at the federal level too,” wrote Wyoming Rep. Jared Olsen (Rep) in the New York Times.


And in the Washington Post, Allen L. Ault, who has served as a commissioner in several state departments of correction, said of the resumption of the federal death penalty, “Psychologists have described the impact of executions on correctional staff as similar to that suffered by battlefield veterans. But in my military experience, there was one major difference: The enemy was an anonymous, armed combatant who was threatening my life. In an execution, the condemned prisoner is a known human being who is totally defenseless when brought into the death chamber.” So, imagine that experience repeated five times over a period of just over five weeks. And imagine a team that hasn’t executed anyone in 16 years, if ever, doing it over and over again.


At a time like this, Bryan Stevenson’s always-relevant question is more pertinent and urgent than ever: “The question of the death penalty is not, ‘Do people deserve to die for the crimes they commit?’ I think the threshold question is, ‘Do we deserve to kill?’ “


The former justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, who was 99, came to the Court in 1975 as a supporter of capital punishment but evolved to believe it was unconstitutional. Read More


DPF has filed an amicus letter in support of a motion arguing that while the moratorium is in place in California, prosecutors should be prohibited from seeking the death penalty. Read More »


“Anyone who claims to believe in the sanctity of life, truth, or justice cannot seriously defend the application of the death penalty in Pennsylvania,” Philadelphia’s DA told the state Supreme Court. Read More


From Oregon to Ohio, death penalty states continued to tinker with the machinery of death in the past few weeks. Read More


While we’re on the subject ...A piece in SCOTUSblog by Alabama’s solicitor general on how the U.S. Supreme Court is indicating it will “defer to the states’ judgments about how the death penalty should be carried out and who should be subjected to it,” and a book about the 2015 Charleston church massacre and its aftermath are just two of our reading suggestions this month. Read More


University of Colorado Sociology Professor Michael L. Radelet is convinced “capital punishment is in decline, and eventual abolition is inevitable.” Read More

"Corporations Are People Too My Friends."
Our companies are known for creating products that enhance people's lives.  Through Sunset Corporation of America and its companies, we’re equally dedicated to improving lives.  Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.

The Sustainable Action Network (SAN), A Don Lichterman non-profit organization dedicated to building a global community raising awareness of corruption, injustice and the need for action across a full range of issues impacting people and animal/wildlife welfare around the world, such as conservation, climate change, campaign law, lobbying, government action and rescue work. SAN’s vision is to create safer world, free from political, environmental, and social oppression, where all the inhabitants of Earth can live in harmony within their own natural environments. Our companies are known for creating products that enhance people's lives.  Through Sunset Corporation of America and its companies, we’re equally dedicated to improving lives.   Our commitment extends to helping local communities, fostering better educational systems, supporting the arts and culture, helping disadvantaged youth, protecting and improving the environment, animal welfare, wildlife issues and encouraging employee volunteerism.

Activism and Sustainability:

  • Gun Safety & Gun Laws

  • Cruelty Free

  • Death Penalty

  • Demand Action

  • Sustainable Action Network

Fairness and Equality:

  • Grammy District Advocacy

  • Privatization

  • Voters Issues & Gerrymandering

  • Private Prisons & the War on Drugs

  • Finance, Housing & the Economy

Corporate Responsibility:

  • Candidates, Bills, Laws & Protections

  • Wildlife & Oceania

  • Labeling & Transparency

  • Comprehensive Captivity & Hunting Results Databases



Clear The Shelters Day is Tomorrow, Saturday Aug. 17th, Yummy Dog Meat, Wildlife Aid TV, Rescue TV!

  • Writer: Don Lichterman
    Don Lichterman
  • Aug 16, 2019
  • 6 min read



South Korea's annual dog-meat slaughter-fest known as Boknal is upon us! This very day, in a macabre and bloody celebration of torture, dogs by the thousands... by the TENS OF THOUSANDS are being cruelly and brutally slaughtered in filthy back-alley butcher shops for a magical stew believed to enhance virility.

Just days ago, our Korean rescue partners with Jindo Love alerted my rescue team to a truck bound for the Boknal festival, piled high with rusty wire metal cages crammed full of helpless dogs packed together; some squeezed together so tightly that they could not move or even turn their heads.

Live video and images began streaming to our screens. Our cell phones began buzzing with incoming alerts and video......and there it was.

Chinese workers in Jordan torturing dogs and eating them!

We are distressed to have to bring you shocking and disturbing news from Jordan, in the Middle East. But we must!

Factory workers in Jordan are selling dogs to Chinese workers who slowly torture them, skin them ALIVE… and then eat them! These evil monsters lure homeless street dogs with tasty food, kidnap them and then sell them to Chinese factory workers who torture the dogs before eating them.

They believe torturing dogs makes the meat taste sweeter. More and more Chinese are working in Jordanian factories as ties between the two countries strengthen. Workers are usually young, unskilled and poor. They show no concern or compassion for dogs, treating them with casual cruelty.

This means that heartless Jordanians conspire with callous Chinese to create hell on earth for dogs.

Last year, thanks to the generosity of supporters like you, NFA helped persuade the Jordanian government to clamp down on a religious-inspired ‘fatwa’ to shoot all street dogs. Now, this new horror has emerged, and street dogs are under a greater threat than ever, we can’t let them be eaten, so today, we need your support more than ever!

Buddy is a prime example of the horrors that are taking place. But he was lucky. We found Buddy outside a Chinese factory, in the baking Jordanian summer heat. He had been left in fierce sun, waiting to be tortured and served for dinner.

We rescued him, rushed him to a vet and are happy to report that Buddy is recovering and being cared for at the Al Rahmeh animal sanctuary, which NFA supporters like you help finance.

We need your help to rescue every dog at risk of being tortured and eaten. We saved Buddy, and with your help, he will be cared for, for the rest of his life.

We will lobby government to stop this barbarity, and in the meantime rescue as many dogs as humanly possible and provide them food, veterinary careand love until forever homes can be found.

If you possibly can, please help today so we can save other dogs like Buddy from being tortured and eaten.


Like an ugly monstrous troll that had lumbered to its unnatural resting spot beneath a bridge, bulging with morbid cargo.

Tiny, grainy video shot on a phone, in the dead of night, and transmitted by a brave activist thousands of miles away showed us the heartbreaking scene...

A rusty truck, carelessly parked, fully laden with its cargo of innocent lives bound and waiting for slaughter on the first day of Boknal. My heart ached to hear them whine pitifully into the night, begging for release.

I knew immediately that we had to SAVE THEM ALL!Some dogs even had collars around their necks, a clear indication that these poor suffering animals were not farmed or raised for meat—they were stolen family companions!

In many parts of Asia, dog-meat vendors, corrupt to their core roam the late-night streets in shadowy fleets of ramshackle pickup trucks. They shamelessly steal unattended dogs, no matter their size or breed, to make an easy profit from the sale of their flesh.

It's because of such strong and generous support from donors like YOU that we were able to spring to action immediately and attempt to rescue everyone!I am not going to sugar coat it... all of them were hurt, starved, dehydrated. Who knows how long they had been shoved into cages and stacked on top of one another. Many of the dogs had fresh injuries from fights caused by other dogs clawing their way beneath the pile, desperate to escape the crushing weight.

Not all will not make it. But we have to try.With tears in her eyes, our frightened but brave rescue partner pleaded our case before the authorities when they arrived on the scene, begging for the release of these animals. It was our passionate pleas; YOUR passionate voice that made this rescue possible.All in all that night, we saved 28 dogs from the butcher's block.

Tragically, two dogs, Annabelle and Bear, have passed away as a result of advanced heartworm and extreme neglect.

This is why we need your help more than ever. Rescue is just the first step; all the dogs need healing, foster care, training and rehabilitation to make a complete recovery. Medical costs are mounting up quickly—almost all the dogs are heartworm positive and suffering from injuries due to their cruel mistreatment.

Basic medical care will cost over $1,000 per dog!

But in the words of our Korean rescuer, "After seeing their eyes... how can we not save them?"

I cannot wait to update you on everyone's progress as we turn 26 victims into 26 survivors who will be able to share their stories… and their love and affection with the world.

We can give them ALL a second chance at life.It is imperative that we continue to fund this critical rescue project. Each life saved today will save many more lives tomorrow as our canine ambassadors awaken the world to the plight of dogs and cats suffering for the illicit and illegal meat trade.

Boknal is here, and for many thousands of dogs and cats, it is too late.

For one very lucky group of dogs—their journey is just beginning... thank you for showing your love for these 26 dog meat survivors through your kind and generous support.

This rescue was callout wasn't one of our most common scenarios.


A young collared dove had found itself pinned, upside down, between a first floor door and the glass balcony.


Although easy to free, the owners were reluctant to try and move the bird, through fear of causing it an injury!


Simon calmly approached the situation and made light work of this rescue!


Puppy season is in full swing! The number of unwanted or abandoned puppies arriving at our Hope Animal Sanctuary is at its highest, and every tiny house is occupied!


A few weeks ago, a man arrived at the Sanctuary asking us to take in some puppies. We explained that we did not have space and asked if he could hold them for a week. He insisted that wasn’t an option.


When our animal caregivers looked into the bed of the man’s truck, they were shocked to see 16 small puppies crammed into two crates. The heat index was hovering just above 100 degrees, and the puppies were panting as the blazing sun baked down on their little bodies.

The tiny puppies needed to be moved immediately to a cooler location or they likely wouldn’t survive the intense heat. We decided to take them in and began to plan how we could house them since we were already operating at maximum capacity.


Our experienced animal caregivers made arrangements and put these puppies in a safe, cool place. We offered the to spay the female or females who had given birth to the litter, but the “guardian” negligently refused our offer. 


We will care for these pups and place them in loving forever homes.


Thankfully, these puppies are safe, but there are so many more who are not. Please, help so we can save more puppies in need - Sharon Stone


Volunteer with the Animal Rescue Team

One of the most commonly asked questions for our Animal Rescue Team is, “How can I volunteer?” Our team has—and relies on—a strong network of volunteers to help us make a real difference for animals in rescue and disaster relief work. We truly depend on them to help us get this important, lifesaving work done.

One of the most common mistakes prospective volunteers make is waiting until a natural or man-made disaster strikes to begin the application process and to begin proper training and preparation for becoming an Animal Rescue Team volunteer. Unfortunately, by then, it’s too late. If you want to volunteer, it’s important to apply before a disaster. If you get everything done early, you, like our many other volunteers, will be ready to deploy when animals need our help.

I can’t speak enough to the impact people feel from saving animals in need. If you want to make a difference, this is a way to do it. I encourage you to start your application today. With hurricane season on the horizon, our team will be ready to deploy at a moment’s notice - The Humane Society of the United States





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