IFAW Marks $1 Million in Donations From Partner The Animal Rescue Site

International Fund for Animal Welfare is another animal rights organization with a two-star rating from Charity Navigator, one star lower than HSUS and PETA.

According to the press release issued August 30, IFAW marked a milestone: $1 million in grants received from GreaterGood.org to help animals in crisis around the world. IFAW has been beneficiary of initiatives on The Animal Rescue Site and GreaterGood.org's grants since 2008.

"The Animal Rescue Site makes it so easy for people to act upon their natural generosity and compassion. When so many individuals are willing to give just a little bit each, we can make a massive difference for animals," said IFAW President and CEO Fred O'Regan.

The Animal Rescue Site was added to the GreaterGood Network in 2002. The primary beneficiaries of its "Click Here To Give" button and The Animal Rescue Site store are International Fund for Animal Welfare, Pefinder.com Foundation, Fund for Animals, Rescue Bank, and Northshore Animal League America.

IFAW campaigns to protect wildlife and against seal hunts and whaling. They also produce a variety of Animal Fact Sheets, including handouts on domestic dogs and cats. The IFAW website advises, Please spay or neuter your pet because 1 female cat and her offspring can produce 420,000 kittens in just 7 years! Better yet! 1 female dog and her offspring can produce 67,000 in just 6 years!

IFAW's press release can be viewed here

Helicopter Hunting For Feral Hogs Begins in TX Thursday

Field & Stream August 29, 2011. by Chad Love

Thursday is the traditional kick-off to many fall hunting seasons, from dove to grouse to...pork choppers? Yes, pork choppers. And according to this story, hunters from across the nation are lining up to be a part of Texas' first helicopter-based hog season.

From this story in the Forth Worth Star-Telegram:
"Pork choppers," Texas' newest weapon in the war on feral hogs, will take to the skies Thursday when it becomes legal for hunters to buy seats on hog-hunting helicopters and gun down as many pigs as they can put in their sights. With more than 2 million feral hogs rooting around the Lone Star State, there will be plenty of targets for aerial gunners willing to pay $475 for an hour of heli-hunting. Vertex Helicopters is already bringing home the bacon as a result of the measure passed by the Texas Legislature this year. The Houston-based firm requires shooters to take a $350 hunting safety course before they can book a hunt, said President Mike Morgan, a former Army helicopter pilot.
story at Field & Stream

The Cruelest Trick Ever Played On A Breed Of Dog

Every once in awhile a new article surfaces about the "Pit Bull" which for a century was viewed as America's dog. Great article, worth reading and sharing.

WHAT BREED OF DOG DID CORPORATE AMERICA BANK ON AS THE SYMBOL OF FIDELITY, RELIABILITY, INTELLIGENCE AND UTTER HARMLESSNESS TO CHILDREN? PIT BULLS!
Let’s pretend…
…that you’re the owner of a large, national company that makes only children’s shoes. No adult shoes. Just kid’s. Unlike most other businesses, your customer profile is extremely narrow. Pretty much only kid’s Moms buy kid’s shoes. You’ve named your company after a cute seven year old boy and you want that little boy to have a dog. There’s nothing more wholesome than a boy and his dog, but which breed should it be? You know dog breeds have different dispositions. German Shepherds, for example are vicious, unreliable, uncontrollable and a movement has been formed to ban them altogether. You know this because the newspaper told you so. What you need is a dog universally known to be good with children. A dog that not even the most easily scared, overprotective mother in the country would fear might harm the boy he’s pictured next to on every box of shoes you produce and a dog she has no fear would harm her child should he encounter one. You need a dog that is loved by everyone and known as being the absolute safest with kids. The reputation of your company depends on it. What breed do you choose?
Read article

HSUS: D-D-Dreadful Charity Practices

Three times a year, the venerable American Institute of Philanthropy (which runs CharityWatch.org) analyzes publicly reported information from charities and issues a report card grading how well these organizations spend their money. Unlike other charity analysts, AIP digs past the face-value data to get a more accurate measure of how effective a charity is. And in its latest report, AIP gives the deceptively named Humane Society of the United States a “D” grade—yet again.

Last year, AIP gave HSUS a “D” grade—twice—due to the animal rights group’s lackluster performance (to put it mildly) in using donors’ contributions. Even PETA has a “C-plus” grade. (AIP must not dock points for hypocritically killing thousands of animals a year.)

AIP finds that HSUS spends up to 49 cents to raise every dollar—quite inefficient fundraising. Additionally, AIP finds that HSUS spends as little as 49 percent of its budget on programs. Full story at Consumer Freedom

HSUS Announces New SC State Director

HSUS issued a press release on August 15, 2011 for the hiring of another state director. "Kimberly Kelly takes the reins for animal welfare efforts on behalf of The Humane Society of the United States in South Carolina. She will be responsible for building activist coalitions and working with local supporters, advising law enforcement, assisting with emergency and disaster preparedness, and working with animal shelters."

"Kelly, based in Charleston, is a graduate of the Charleston School of Law, and the University of California, Berkeley. She led the Student Animal Legal Defense Fund while in law school, and worked with a domestic violence organization to help start their services for pets program which provides food and temporary shelter for the pets of women trying to escape domestic violence. She also has worked with The HSUS’ Animal Protection Litigation department."

The presss release notes that last year HSUS helped pass more than 100 animal protection laws in various states. South Carolinians can expect to see a steady stream of HSUS legislation both locally and at the state legislature.

Wolf delisting headed to court again

(CN) - Environmental groups on Thursday asked the 9th Circuit to reinstate the Northern Rocky Mountain Gray Wolf on the Endangered Species List.

Last week, a Montana federal judge upheld the constitutionality of a Department of Defense budget rider, which directs the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to delist the gray wolf, a species that roams the northern Rocky Mountains through Montana, Idaho, eastern Oregon, eastern Washington and northern Utah.

"Wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains should be managed by science, not political meddling by Congress," said Noah Greenwald, endangered species director with the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement. "This appeal is aimed at restoring needed protections for wolves in these states. Although numbers have risen, the job of wolf recovery is far from complete."

Since the ruling, a number of states have set new hunting quotas for wolves, according to appeal filed by the center, Cascadia Wildlands in Eugene, Ore., and the Western Watersheds Project.

Fish and Wildlife issued a final rule to remove the species from the list in 2009, but a federal judge found that the rule violated the Endangered Species Act by protecting a listed species only across part of its range. The court vacated the rule and the wolves remained protected until the passage of an appropriations bill by Congress this past April. A rider to that bill, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama, directed Fish and Wildlife to reissue the 2009 rule.

"The wolf rider is a clear example of overreaching by Congress that resulted in the wrongful removal of protections for wolves," Cascadia Wildlands campaign director Josh Laughlin said in a statement. "The rider is not only a disaster for wolves but for any endangered species that a politician doesn't like. Congress has set a terrible precedent that we hope to overturn."

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy in Missoula also decried the rider in his Aug. 3 ruling as a "tearing away, an undermining, and a disrespect for the fundamental idea of the rule of law."

Nonetheless, Molloy determined that he was bound by precedent to uphold the congressional delisting, no matter how much he disagreed with it. Full story

PETA Loses Lawsuit Seeking Inclusion in Merck Shareholder Meeting

PETA Loses Lawsuit Seeking Inclusion in Merck Shareholder Meeting
U.S. District Judge Amy Jackson dismissed a lawsuit filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals seeking a court order to force Merck & Co. Inc. to include a resolution from the animal rights group in materials for the pharmaceutical company’s annual shareholder meeting.

Following a motions hearing this morning, Jackson granted Merck summary judgment and dismissed the case in an order from the bench. Since the shareholder meeting in question already took place in May, Merck had argued that the court lacked authority to order Merck to hold a special meeting for the purpose of presenting PETA’s resolution, among other things.

The animal rights group holds 101 shares of Merck. The group accused Merck of wrongfully denying its request to include a resolution in proxy materials that called on Merck to disclose use of animal testing in in-house and contracted research. Full story