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Writer's pictureDon Lichterman

Yummy, Dog Meat, Weekly Animal & Wildlife Crime, Cruelty & Welfare Report


#PETA, You Won't Believe What This Whistleblower Told Us About Filming on 'Yellowstone'

In a chilling PETA interview, a whistleblower describes the gruesome scene of decomposing cows' bodies and the psychological trauma that crewmembers were forced to endure on the set of Kevin Costner's "Yellowstone."

Traps Meant for Coyotes Are Killing Cats

PETA and Stephen F's Vegan Suit Collection Is Ruling Fashion Week

YUMMMY...DOG MEAT...



In July and August, thousands more will be killed so that vendors at the Boknal Festival can serve the popular Peppery Dog Meat Soup. And in late August, teenage boys will be forced to gorge on dog meat for seven days as part of a coming-of-age ceremony.



But the horror doesn't end with festivals. Dogs are abused and killed for food every day all year round. The dog meat markets of Indonesia, Nigeria, the Philippines, and Vietnam are thriving. Some are even considered tourist destinations. And in certain areas of Switzerland, farmers are still known to kill dogs for personal consumption or to give as a delicacy to friends.


Care2 is launching a campaign to stop dog meat consumption worldwide. By adding your name to this petition, you are signing on to help stop dog meat festivals and markets across the globe. Over the next several weeks, you will get the opportunity to sign petitions and take other actions to end the inhumane slaughter of millions of dogs each year — starting with the Yulin Dog Meat Festival.


Are you ready to send a strong message to world leaders that you won't rest until all dogs are safe from butchers? Then join us in making 2019 the year that dog meat festivals and markets are stopped once and for all.

Congress takes steps to block high-speed slaughter -- Add your voice!


Legislators are pushing an amendment through the US House of Representatives that could put the brakes on the USDA’s cruel high-speed slaughter program. Add your voice today with a quick, polite call to the agency at 202-720-9113 urging it to scrap this reckless plan (use our sample script below)!


The amendment, sponsored by Representatives Rosa DeLauro and David Price, would block funding of the USDA’s proposed rule to expand high-speed slaughter nationwide until the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) provides findings on the data used to develop this program. USDA must then address whatever issues the OIG raises. But if the USDA is allowed to increase line speeds and reduce accountability, it will be dangerous for animals, workers, and consumers alike.

Compassion Over Killing investigator Scott David has witnessed these high-speed horrors firsthand. Working in a plant operating under this slaughter rate of 1,300 pigs per hour, he documentedpigs being beaten, shocked, dragged, and improperly stunned, as workers tried to keep up.


This bill could be a step in delaying--and hopefully ending--this rule, which has been widely criticized by animal welfare, workers’ rights, and food safety groups. The New York Times editorial board even recently took a formal stance against the rule, writing that it  “the government — rather astonishingly — has maintained the [fast-speed] pilot program for two decades without proving that it works.”


TAKE ACTION: Call the USDA at 202-720-9113 and urge it to put the brakes on high-speed slaughter! Use our sample below (or your own polite message), and don’t forget to email campaigns@cok.net to let us know how your call went. Click Here to Sign the Petition.

Through our investigations of Petland, three things have become clear to us and to the public: One, Petland is aware of the sick and dying animals it buys (and sells) from puppy mills. Two, Petland and puppy mills see only dollar signs when they look at puppies. Three, unless we double down on our efforts, Petland will use its lobbyists to make this country a great place for puppy mills. Stop them today!


We need to reach 5,000 gifts by this Friday to continue our investigations, local and national advocacy work, rescues and more. We can't stop now! Petland and its lobbyists are working around the clock all over the country, fighting to overturn our legislation, to ensure that America becomes a country where puppy mills can thrive.



Do you know what a backyard butcher is?


It sounds like something out of a horror movie. But for residents just outside of Fort Myers, Florida, it is all too real.


The piercing cries and squeals of pigs, goats, horses, chickens, and other animals being cruelly and illegally slaughtered at “backyard butcher” operations are unbearable. The sounds of their pain have even brought people to tears.


It’s illegal and unethical — and the Animal Legal Defense Fund is suing to shut them down. Your can help support our legal work to shut down illegal, inhumane backyard slaughter operations.


Florida law requires that animals be unconscious and rendered insensitive to pain before being killed. But video footage of these backyard slaughterhouses reveal that animals routinely retain consciousness during slaughter. Workers stab squealing pigs in the chest and throat, and even attempt to skin animals alive.


No wonder their cries of pain are so upsetting to people nearby. I can’t begin to imagine the horror of hearing animals cry out in pain as they are being violently slaughtered.


Cruelty like this cannot...will not...be tolerated in our society. Our lawsuit aims to stop this cruel and illegal slaughter, but we need your help.



Please support for the Animal Legal Defense Fund right now to make twice the impact in the fight for animals! With your support we can bring black market slaughter operations out of the shadows and shut them down.


The vet called it “extreme emaciation”


When one of the horses died, the owner left him to rot. And it wasn’t the first time.

When law enforcement in Lebanon, Oregon came to investigate, they found 34 neglected, malnourished horses standing in mud that was full of their own urine and feces. They were so thin that deputies could see their hip and rib bones.


This is animal cruelty — plain and simple.


With the help of a local horse rescue and the Animal Legal Defense Fund, law enforcement were able to seize the 34 horses and transport them to a sanctuary. This story might remind you of another severely neglected horse from Oregon — Justice.


Justice suffered severe neglect, starvation, frostbite, and other grave injuries due to his owner’s negligence, and will require expensive medical care for the rest of his life due to the injuries he sustained.


Unfortunately, animal abuse like this is all too common — which is why your support is so critical. The fight against animal cruelty and injustice will be long and hard — and animals like Justice and those 34 horses need people like you in their corner fighting on their behalf.




The Animal Legal Defense Fund is fighting right now to make sure Justice and those 34 horses get the justice they deserve, but there are millions more animal victims that need justice, too. Your gift drives our innovative legal work and saves animals’ lives.


So please don’t miss your chance to make an impact on animals’ lives today — animals are depending on you.


Man Arrested for Torturing and Killing Cats From Craigslist

Punish Craigslist Kitten Killer! It's happened again. A man has been arrested for picking up "free to good home" animals off Craigslist and torturing and killing them. It's impossible to say how many victims there might be, but the investigation is ongoing. Act now to ensure this horrible man pays for his violent crimes against helpless animals. TAKE ACTION


A Missouri man has been charged with two felony counts of animal abuse for killing and dismembering at least 12 cats and kittens he found on Craigslist, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.


According to police, deceased cats were found throughout the suspect’s neighborhood since January. The crimes stayed hidden until a man spotted someone dumping a dead cat. After finding a match to the car used during the dump, police arrested Kaine A. Louzader for the heinous crimes. Louzader admitted to police that he obtained cats through Craigslist ads, stomped on their heads and strangled them, according to the Post-Dispatch.


This tragic case serves as an important reminder of the dangers of selling pets online instead of relinquishing them to reputable shelters and rescues.


Although there is little information available on who was selling the cats who were eventually killed, it is possible they were pet owners thinking their animals were going to a loving home.

Instead, these animals were senselessly tortured, likely enduring severe pain and suffering before being killed and discarded outside like garbage.


Animal advocates have long urged the public not to give away their pets online. Cases such as this one are far from isolated incidents.


In 2015, a man was arrested for tying a dog’s legs together, muzzling her and setting her on fire while she was still alive. The man got the dog through a Craigslist ad.


In 2013, a dog known as Puppy Doe was found in a park struggling to survive. The young dog was starved, stabbed and burned, and her tongue had been sliced. Puppy Doe ended up in the hands of her abuser after being passed to multiple owners through Craigslist ads, leading to national calls to ban animal ads on Craigslist.


Pets available on Craigslist make easy targets for animal abusers. Unlike shelters and rescues, which have protocols in place to screen potential adopters, people giving away their pets on Craigslist may not know the right questions to ask. For instance, shelters and rescues usually have standardized application forms and may conduct reference checks or home visits.


Animal abusers also avoid leaving a paper trail by acquiring animals through Craigslist, where they can use fake phone numbers and email addresses instead of signing adoption paperwork at a shelter or rescue. There is no reliable way to monitor the transfer of animal exchanges on Craigslist.


Pet owners may prefer Craigslist over traditional outlets for relinquishing a pet. After all, shelters and rescues may be filled to capacity or euthanize animals due to overcrowding. But putting animals in the hands of an unknown stranger is a dangerous and potentially fatal alternative. Instead, pet owners who want to find their animals new homes on their own should only give them to known friends and family.


Additionally, we must work to eliminate the stigma of giving up a pet, so people do not have to resort to online sales or abandoning their animals.


Both Craigslist and Facebook have attempted to put policies in place to control animal ads. Facebook prohibits the sale of live animals on its website. Craigslist’s policy states pet sales are prohibited but allows “re-homing with [a] small adoption fee.” Clearly, Craigslist’s policy is not enough to prevent brutal acts of animal cruelty.


Supporters of animal ads on Craigslist argue that instances of animal cruelty encompass just a small portion of the animal rehomings through the website. In a blog post, Craigslist defended ads for animals, saying, “Direct rehoming via classifieds is a solution, not a problem. Countless pets find good homes on CL, saved from unnecessary euthanization [sic].”


But even the small chance of placing a pet into the hands of a depraved animal abuser is too high of a risk. We cannot allow animal abusers to find their next victim with a few clicks online.


TAKE ACTION!

Craigslist must do more to prevent animal abuse by prohibiting all ads that attempt to give away a pet. Join us by signing this petition calling for Craigslist to update its policy on pet ads.

YouTuber Erin Janus is shining a spotlight an industry that is responsible for inconceivable animal suffering. Her world-famous viral video, Dairy is Scary, has over 5.4 million views and climbs higher each day as more and more people grow conscious of their food choices.


Erin exposes scary dairy industry practices of forcibly impregnating cows and slaughtering their newborns as "waste products" so cow milk can be pumped and sold for human consumption.


Last year we partnered with Erin to launch a huge campaign that saw 60 billboards dropped on Los Angeles advertising the Dairy is Scary video to broadcast the truth on behalf of animals.


Thanks to local groups around the globe, these ads continue to circulate and expose an uncomfortable truth that we have the power to change.

New Brunswick in Canada is the latest "Dairy is Scary" city—just in time for June Dairy Month! Launching June 10, the ads will be featured on three buses circulating the Fredericton area, and two billboards located in Moncton and Saint John. They have been funded by Vegan Education Group NB through the generous donations of individuals and The Save Movement.


If you haven't signed up yet, what’s holding you back? Try our 21-day Dairy-Free Challenge today!


Stop Russia Illegally Trafficking Endangered Tigers to China

Something terrible is happening to endangered Amur tigers in Russian zoos—they are disappearing. The Euro-Asian Regional Association of Zoos and Aquariums is charged with preserving these rare cats, yet is actually selling baby tigers to China. Take action now to stop the sales of endangered big cats and free them from horrific conditions! TAKE ACTION

"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



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