Category Archives: cny

>New York State Humane Lobby Day – March 24

>Think only professional lobbyists can lobby? Think again! The Humane Society of the United States invites you to participate in the New York State Humane Lobby Day in Albany, where you’ll make a tremendous difference for animals.

This is an exciting opportunity to meet directly with your elected officials or their staff about legislation that will significantly impact animals. There will be a briefing on tips for lobbying and an overview of pending animal legislation which will prepare you to meet your elected officials and advocate for animals. RSVP today to lend your voice for animals and make a difference in New York.

Join SARO and other community members as we travel to Albany to talk our legislators to help pass laws cracking down on animal fighters, stopping puppy mills, ending canned shoots of captive exotic wildlife, protecting farm animals from cruel treatment, and doing the right thing for animals!

The 2010 New York State Humane Lobby Day is organized by The Humane Society of the United States and co-sponsored by Farm Sanctuary, Humane Society of New York, New York League of Humane Voters, and New York State Humane Association.

A chartered bus will be leaving early morning from the Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse heading to Albany and returning in the evening after the event.
There is no registration fee for attending NYS Humane Lobby Day. Those who would like to travel on our chartered bus from Syracuse/Utica to Albany and back can purchase a seat for $26 per traveler. This fee will allow us to cover the cost of the bus. The bus will leave Syracuse at 7:45am, and make a stop for pick up in Utica at 8:30am.
Those who arrive late will forfeit their seats. Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.

The pick up stations are as follows:

SYRACUSE – 7:45am
Address: Regional Transportation Center

                131 Alliance Bank Pkwy
                Syracuse, NY 13208

UTICA – 8:30am
Address: 321 Main Street
                Utica, NY 13501

Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Time: 11:00am – 4:30pm
Address: Empire State Plaza Convention Center

                Meeting Rooms 2 & 3
                Albany, NY 12242

 

If you’d like to attend this event please RSVP for the event and RSVP for the bus.

>Meet With HSUS for Animals in Upstate New York

>

Join Us
  
Ithaca, New York
HSUS Lobby 101 Seminar

Monday, Dec. 7, 2009
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.
Watertown, New York
HSUS Lobby 101 Seminar

Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009
6 – 8 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.
Syracuse, New York
HSUS Grassroots Meeting

Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.
Albany, New York
HSUS Grassroots Meeting

Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009
6:30 – 8 p.m.
Click here to RSVP.
  

Dear Friend,

Great things are happening for animals across New York. I’m the New York State Director of the Humane Society of the United States and I’ll be hosting several free events throughout Upstate New York next month. I hope you’ll join me to learn how you can take action for animals. Check the list for an event near you and click the links to get more details and to RSVP.

The U.S. Congress and the New York state legislature will be considering legislation that would significantly impact animals, such as a bill to help strengthen animal fighting laws and a bill to stop the proliferation of puppy mills in New York. We want you to know the most effective ways to get involved and communicate your message.

I’ll hold two Lobby 101 seminars — Dec. 7 in Ithaca and Dec. 8 in Watertown. Lobby 101s will provide you with basic, but effective, lobby techniques for citizen activists and provide information regarding some of the bills and issues being considered this year.

I’ll also hold two grassroots meetings — Dec. 9 in Syracuse and Dec. 10 in Albany. At these grassroots meetings, you’ll have the opportunity to discuss current issues affecting animals and receive an update on animal protection legislation in which HSUS is currently engaged.

All events are free of charge, but an RSVP is requested to attend. Click on the links to learn more and to RSVP now.

Hope to see you at one of these events!

Sincerely,

Patrick Kwan
New York State Director
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. Join The HSUS New York State group on Facebook. It’s free (and fun) to set up your own profile and get involved.

P.P.S. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/heypatrick.

>Dogs Deserve Better: Winter Outreach

>Please join SARO to remind people that a life on a chain is no life at all, but this holds especially true during the winter months.  On Saturday, December 5th SARO will be standing on the corner of Alliance Bank Pkwy and Park St asking people to please be kind to their dogs this winter and bring them indoors.

Why: To increase public awareness that having dogs on chains or in pens is not only inhumane and barbaric but also a public safety issue. More info at www.dogsdeservebetter.org
When: Saturday, December 5th, 3:30pm-4:30pm
Where: Syracuse, NY, on the corner of Alliance Bank Parkway and Park St.
NOTE: The Carousel Mall entrance is directly across the street from where we’ll be. Mapquest: Type in 2100 Park St. for the Regional Market. If you are driving to this event please park in the Regional Market or the Regional Transportation Center parking lots not in the Carousel Center parking lot.
What to bring: Signs will be provided, or bring your own. Sign ideas are:”Dogs are family, too”; “Unchain your dog”; “No chains or pens for dogs”; etc.

Please remember to DRESS WARMLY!  We will be in the shade and it will be much cooler than you might expect.

Demonstration Location Map:


View Larger Map

>Regional Fur Free Friday Demonstration

>Fur Free Friday is an anti-fur action day held every year the day after Thanksgiving-the busiest shopping day of the year. Join local anti-fur activists from across the state to protest the cruel and unnecessary killing of animals for their fur. We will hold signs and distribute literature encouraging consumers to choose cruelty free fashions. For more information about Fur Free Friday, visit www.furkills.org. Posters and literature provided or you can bring your own!

Where: Skaneateles Furs at 44 East Genesee Street, Skaneateles, NY 13152

What: Peaceful legal protest with signs, banners and fliers about the gruesome truth of the fur industry. It may be COLD! Wear a hat and gloves!

When: Friday Nov. 27th from 1-2pm

Carpool Info: Meet at the S.U. Schine Student Center loading dock area
on Waverly Ave. in Syracuse at 12noon sharp.

Carpool Map:

View Larger Map

>Tonight’s Protest of Foie Gras

>The foie gras protest tonight was a fun and interesting experience! Although we thought we had figured out all the kinks with the Syracuse Police Department trying to infringe on our right to free speech, we again had to rehash with them that we are legally allowed to protest on a public sidewalk. The owners of L’Adour recently took down their ‘protester shield’ curtains, and we believe they were upset being ‘caught in the open’ with no way to keep their customers from looking out the windows at us! Also, this protest saw the biggest turnout in over a year and we thank everyone for coming out for the ducks! It renews our hope that we can keep up the energy needed to keep this campaign against foie gras alive! Stay tuned for more foie gras protests!

foie gras protest at Ladour 09/25/09

In the mean time, check out photos of tonight’s protest here:
www.myspace.com/animalrights (apologies for all the red-eye photos!)
Check out our website about L’Adour here: www.ladourpollutes.com
and, as always, contact L’Adour directly and keep the pressure on:
Write: L’Adour, 110 Montgomery St., Syracuse, NY 13202.
Call: 315-475-7653
Fax: 315-471-9713

>SARO To Protest Tonight Over Foie Gras Being Served In Syracuse

>After being made aware of the inherent cruelty to ducks in foie gras production, L’adour refuses to take the product off their menu or sign a foie gras free pledge. Please show support for all the birds suffering on these farms by coming to SARO’s public outreach events and contacting L’Adour(below). For more information about foie gras, please watch the video(s) posted below

Please visit YouTube to watch a 12 minute video call Foie Gras: Culinary Cruelty

Protest Details
What: Hold signs and distribute literature to the dinner crowd at L’Adour. Signs and literature provided-including our large ‘ladourpollutes.com‘ banner. Just bring yourself and friends!
Important Note: Due to the ‘upscale’ nature of the crowd and in order
to better advocate for the animals, please dress ‘business casual’.
Where: L’Adour Restaurant, 110 Montgomery St. in Downtown Syracuse
When: Friday, September 25th from 7pm-8pm
Carpool info: Meet at the Schine Student Center loading dock(facing
Waverly Ave.) on SU Campus at 6:30pm sharp.

Other Ways You Can Help
Write: L’Adour 110 Montgomery St., Syracuse, NY 13202.
Call: 315-475-7653
Fax: 315-471-9713
Keep the issue fresh in the mind of L’Adour owners and patrons.  Please make
sure you state your opposition to L’Adour serving foie gras. Feel free
to call, write and email the restaurant letting them know you want
foie gras off their menu and you don’t plan on giving them business
until then.

>PETA Offers Syracuse Zoo $2,000

>On Tuesday PETA sent a letter to the Rosamond Gifford Zoo’s director offering a donation of two thousand dollars to replace the zoo’s penguins with robotic ones, which were developed by Festo, a German engineering company.

PETA’s letter to Rosamond Gifford Zoo Director Chuck Doyle follows.
September 15, 2009

Chuck Doyle
Director
Rosamond Gifford Zoo

Dear Mr. Doyle,
I am writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and our more than 2 million members and supporters–including thousands in the Syracuse area–to ask you to replace the zoo’s captive penguins with the lifelike robotic penguins that were recently developed by the German engineering company Festo. PETA is even offering to make a donation toward fundraising for the project by pledging the first $2,000.

While zoos claim to be educational, a true understanding and appreciation of wildlife cannot come from looking at bored animals who are confined to cramped enclosures that can never replicate the animals’ real home environments. Captive animals are denied any semblance of a natural life, and virtually every facet of their existence is controlled. The only thing that people can learn from a visit to the zoo is how animals behave when held in captivity.

Penguins are avid swimmers and divers, and their need to roam in open water cannot be met in a small enclosure. They are good parents and form monogamous pairs, working together to care for their young. In zoos, their mates are often chosen for them through breeding programs, and in many cases, their chicks are removed. The physical and mental frustrations of captivity commonly lead to abnormal, neurotic, and even self-destructive behavior known as “zoochosis.” And while zoos tout species preservation, the fact is that captive-breeding programs do little if anything to protect wild populations. Warehousing penguins in zoos is not the solution to saving their counterparts in the wild.

Festo’s robotic penguins move, swim, and even communicate just as real penguins do, and visitors who observe the robots will be able to learn about penguin behavior without inflicting additional stress on captive live birds. This will be particularly true if you also erect a sign that reads, “This zoo does not house real penguins because we recognize that we cannot adequately replicate their natural environment or provide them with a satisfying life.” Please see the attached article about these fascinating robots. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman
Executive Vice President
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

See robot penguins in action:

>Petland: From Birth to Death Animals Suffer

>Since November 2008, when The Humane Society of the United States(HSUS) revealed that they had done an eight-month long investigation into Petland and it’s puppies for sale, SARO has joined with HSUS to get the only New York location to stop selling puppies that come from puppy mills.

A few weeks ago, PETA discovered a disturbing photograph (pictured right) and comments posted on Facebook by then Petland employee Elizabeth Carlisle, who worked at the store in Akron, Ohio. The photo shows a grinning Carlisle posing for the camera as she scruffs the bodies of two dead, soaking wet rabbits. Carlisle admitted to a Facebook friend that she drowned the rabbits, claiming that her manager took the photograph while Carlisle was "swearing at [the rabbits] to just hurry up and die … " Currently Carlisle faces a year in jail for animal cruelty.

It appears Petland can’t provide the basic supervision and care necessary to keep the animals it sells healthy and safe.

Ask Petland to stop selling rabbits now! (This is a PETA Action Alert)

>Action Alert – Last Days For Public Comment

>With only three days left to submit public comment now is not the time to remain quite. Please speak out for the deer, raccoons, and other animals by telling New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation officials that hunting has no place in Green Lakes State Park.

Send your (polite) comments to Mark Hohengasser of the Planning Bureau telling what you think of the plan to bring hunting to Green Lakes.

Mark Hohengasser
GreenLakes.Plan@oprhp.state.ny.us

Or if you prefer PETA has started an email for you at https://secure.peta.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2383 .

After you submit your comments please visit http://SaveGreenLakesWildlife.com and sign the petition.

>Bangging On Ft. Drum

>Members of SARO joined PETA to protest the cruel use of animals at Ft. Drum.

From PETA:

Thousands of live animals are shot, stabbed, dismembered, burned, and poisoned every year in Department of Defense (DoD) training exercises, designed to train medics and infantry in how to treat various human battlefield injuries. Fort Drum plans to fatally wound live animals for the sole purpose of treating their traumatic injuries.

Mutilating living animals to teach military medics how to treat injuries in humans is both unethical and ineffective. The physiology and anatomy of non-human animals are drastically different from that of humans, and more sophisticated non-animal simulators are used in most medical schools and at several military trauma centers.

We need your help in urging Fort Drum to end its outdated trauma-training exercises on animals and adopt one of the many non-animal methods – such as rotations in military trauma hospitals and the use of the DoD’s own Combat Trauma Patient Simulator.

Please be sure to send PETA’s automated letter to your congressional representative and senators asking them to urge President Obama to ban military trauma exercises on animals.