Helping Animals

HELP PUPPIES, PIGS, CATS, HORSES, SHARKS AND OTHER ANIMALS

A phone call or letter to your state senator and assembly member can help animals.  If you don’t know who these legislators are or don’t have their contact information, call your Board of Elections for that information.  In OnondagaCounty, the Board of Elections is (315)435-8683.  The Humane Society of the U.S. wants the following bills to pass in the New York State Legislature.  When you phone or write to your legislator, cite the name and number of the bill and a brief description and that you are in support of its passage.

Protect Sharks from Cruel Fin Trade

Tens of millions of sharks are killed every year to meet global demand for shark fins for delicacies like shark fin soup. Many have their fins sliced off and are then tossed back into the ocean to suffer a painful death. The entire West Coast California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii, Illinois, and all three Pacific U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and Northern Mariana Islands have already enacted bans on the shark fin trade. New York should not be a haven for the cruel, wasteful, and unsustainable trade in shark fins. It’s time to stop contributing to this cruelty, and help end the inhumane and  ecologically devastating practice of shark finning worldwide.  Support A. 1769a/S.1711a.

Protect Farm Animals from Extreme Confinement

In New York, it’s currently legal to confine pigs and veal calves in crates so small they can’t even turn around. These crates are one of the most cruel and inhumane confinement practices in the world of factory farming. With your help, we can pass A.1656 and ensure gestation crates won’t become “standard practice” in New York. This bill prohibits the confinement of breeding pigs in a manner that does not allow them to stand up, lie down and turn around freely.

Consolidated Animal Crimes Bill

 New York’s animal cruelty laws have been hidden away within the state’s Agriculture and Markets statutes for decades, confusing police, prosecutors and judges. The Consolidated Animal Crimes Bill (A.775a/S.1776) improves enforcement by placing animal crimes under the penal code (criminal law), which is familiar, accessible, and taught to law enforcement personnel. A.775a/S.1776 redrafts anti-cruelty laws that have gone without substantial revisions since the mid-19th century!

Crack Down on Puppy Mills

Puppy mills are inhumane, large-scale, commercial dog breeding operations that mass-produce puppies for sale through pet stores, over the Internet and directly to the public.  Focused solely on making a profit, these facilities often keep dogs in crowded, filthy conditions where they receive little or no socialization, affection, protection from the elements or veterinary care.  The female dogs are bred over and over until they are no longer useful. New York is rapidly becoming a haven for some of the worst puppy mill operators because of the state’s lack of clear and enforceable regulations.  Support  A.1655.

LOBBY DAY, APRIL 17

On Weds. April 17, people will be traveling from Syracuse and many parts of the state to Albany to speak to legislators or their aides about the above bills. To learn more, contact Brian Shapiro, N.Y.S. Director of the H.S.U.S. at bshapiro@humanesociety.org or (845)707-5350. For the possibility of carpooling to Albany from Syracuse, call Jan Markarian, (315)479-6756 (9 a.m. – 10 p.m.).

Linda A. DeStefano is President of People for Animal Rights, P.O. Box 15358, Syracuse, N.Y. 13215-0358, (315)488-PURR, LDESTEFANO3@twcny.rr.com, http://peopleforanimalrightsofcny.org/. This article was translated by Rob English