| I. Egg Company Threw 30,000 Hens Into Wood Chipping
Machines
San Diego County California is investigating the Ward Egg Ranch
whose workers told the County Department of Animal Services that
"their arms had gotten tired from breaking the chickens' necks,
so they threw them into the machinery," as reported in the
San Diego Union-Tribune 2/22. U.S. Department of Agriculture consultant
Gregg Cutler told the ranch the wood chipper was "humane"
and "painless." However, San Diego County Animal Services
Lt. Mary Kay Gagliardo told the North County Times
(2/28) "It's clearly animal cruelty."
Urge the San Diego County District Attorney's office to prosecute
Ward Egg Ranch for massive violations of California's animal cruelty
law, which prohibits subjecting any animal to needless suffering
or
unnecessary cruelty. (Neck wringing - cervical dislocation - while
totally cruel is virtually impossible to prosecute because it is
a "standard agricultural practice" approved as "humane"
by the American
Veterinary Medical Association.) Letters and phone calls are urgently
needed because the U.S. Department of Agriculture is whitewashing
the wood chipper episode (North County Times 2/28).
Contact:
Bonnie M. Dumanis
San Diego County District Attorney
330 West Broadway, Suite 1300
San Diego, CA 92101
Ph: 619-531-4040
Fax: 619-237-1351
Email: publicinformation@sdcda.org
II. Fraternity Men Charged with Felony Animal Cruelty for Beating
Goose to Death
Seven members of the Kappa Sigma Chapter at Davidson College in
North Carolina lured a white goose with bread crumbs then beat her
to death with a golf club last month. Authorities charged John North
Moore III. Graham Lambert Hunter, Oscar Hernandez, Thomas Carroll
Jeter, George Stephen Tolson. Jacob Charlson, and Andrew Mincey
with felony cruelty to animals and conspiracy to commit cruelty
to animals. Witnesses say the men beat the goose to death, then
threw her body into the trunk of a car
and drove away.
According to Davidson College President Robert F. Vagt, these students
will face not only the penalties imposed by the criminal justice
system, but also will be made to stand before the requirements of
the Davidson College Code of Responsibility. However, letters need
to be sent now to the Kappa Sigma Fraternity's Executive Director
Mitchell B. Wilson. According to People for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals, this is the third time in three years that PETA has
been alerted to episodes of cruelty to animals by members of Kappa
Sigma.
Please call or send a polite letter to Mitchell Wilson and urge
him to take long-overdue measures to prevent future episodes of
animal abuse by revoking the Davidson College chapter's charter
and adding language requiring the humane treatment of animals to
the fraternity's mission statement:
Mitchell B. Wilson, Executive Director
Kappa Sigma International Memorial Headquarters
2443 Ivy Road
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Phone: 434-295-3193, ext. 111
Fax: 434-296-9557
Email: mailbox@imh.kappasigma.org
Thank you for responding to these Action Alerts today. Your Voice
is Needed!
United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes
the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl. http://www.upc-online.org
United Poultry Concerns, Inc.
PO Box 150
Machipongo, VA 23405-0150
757-678-7875
FAX: 757-678-5070
www.upc-online.org |
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