January 31, 2014 | News & Information
There is a well-documented link between animal cruelty and acts of violence against humans.
For several years, ARFF pushed for legislation to make sexual contact with animals a crime. A bill outlawing the sexual abuse of animals was finally enacted in 2011. This week, that law was used to sentence a man in St. Johns County to eight years in prison. James Lee Lyons was arrested twice in 2013 for raping dogs. Lyons is a registered sexual predator with a previous conviction for sexual battery on a child.
When law enforcement and courts take animal cruelty seriously, they may be preventing other acts of violence. This year in Tallahassee, a bill has been introduced that would significantly increase penalties for animal cruelty. Please contact your State Representative and ask him or her to sign on as a co-sponsor of House Bill 637.
The 2014 legislative session will officially begin on March 4. Visit ARFF’s website for updates on animal protection legislation.
January 18, 2014 | News & Information
This week a young chimpanzee named Arden celebrated her 5th birthday at the Chimp Haven sanctuary in Keithville, Louisiana. Click here to watch a beautiful video about Arden.
Arden spent her first few years behind bars at the New Iberia Research Center (NIRC), which was the largest chimpanzee lab in the world. In June 2013, the National Institutes of Health announced that almost all of the government-owned chimpanzees at NIRC and other laboratories would be retired to sanctuaries (in the announcement, the NIH director stated, “new scientific methods and technologies have rendered their use in research largely unnecessary”). Arden and her mother were among the first chimps from NIRC to arrive at Chimp Haven in 2013.
It is wonderful to watch Arden climb trees, run on grass and play with friends at Chimp Haven. But if it was up to the President of Primate Products, Arden would have spent her life in a laboratory.
Thomas J. Rowell is President of Primate Products, an Immokalee-based company that imports and sells monkeys for use in research and testing. Before taking the position at Primate Products, Rowell served as NIRC’s Director for 15 years. In that role, Rowell was a leading proponent of the continued use of chimpanzees in biomedical research.
Thankfully, Arden is now safe from laboratory experiments!
We’ve written about Primate Products many times on this blog. Search “Primate Products” above to learn more about this company’s controversial history.
November 21, 2013 | News & Information
In a recent column, Lakeland Ledger environmental writer Tom Palmer accused ARFF of “environmental ignorance” for our suggestion that after 500 years of living in Florida, wild pigs should be considered a native Florida animal. We admit that it’s a challenging idea.
Palmer argues that wild pigs can be destructive, but so can other animals. Like pigs, armadillos damage lawns and gardens when rooting for food. In northern Florida, farmers are angry about deer eating their crops. Cormorants and other fish-eating birds are a big problem at aquaculture facilities in Florida. Even tiny bats can cause problems when they roost in buildings in large numbers. (Palmer also claims, but offers nothing more than anecdotal evidence, that wild pigs prey on native wildlife and spread disease.) ARFF would support creative, humane methods of reducing the pig population in areas where they are causing problems.
Unfortunately, Palmer does not address our main point: that the “non-native” designation for wild pigs has been used as justification for horrible acts of violence against these animals, cruelties that would not be ignored if suffered by “native” wildlife. For example, Florida hunters use packs of dogs, and primitive weapons like knives and spears, to chase down and kill wild pigs. Pigs are often castrated, without anesthesia, by hunters who then release the animal in the belief that he will grow fatter and have better-tasting flesh when captured in the future.
As tempting as it may be to turn the clock back to the year 1500, that’s not going to happen. Florida’s environment has changed dramatically since Europeans first arrived. It is unrealistic to demand that Florida’s wildlife look the same as when Ponce de León stepped off the boat.
ARFF will continue to speak up for these intelligent, adaptable animals. We hope that in the future Floridians will view wild pigs with compassion and understanding.
October 30, 2013 | News & Information
Last month ARFF was contacted by a resident at an apartment community in Hollywood who had witnessed a man rounding-up Muscovy ducks. When questioned, the man said that the ducks were going to be “relocated” somewhere far away (we suspect that this was not the truth).
ARFF contacted the community management and urged them to explore humane methods of reducing the duck population, such as collecting newly-laid eggs. We also alerted the management that the removal of ducks may have been in violation of city ordinances. The City of Hollywood is a bird sanctuary. According to city code, “It shall be unlawful for any person to hunt, wound, molest, injure or kill any bird within the city. It shall be unlawful for any person to capture any bird within the city for either resale or private use.”
We were happy to receive a response from the community manager stating that they would make sure to be in compliance with the city ordinance when dealing with ducks in the future.
Many cities across Florida have been designated “bird sanctuaries.” Such designations can offer protection against individuals who treat Muscovy ducks cruelly or capture ducks for profit. If your city is not a bird sanctuary, contact your city commission and urge them to consider adding this important protection for birds (contact ARFF, we can help).
October 18, 2013 | News & Information
In an email to members dated October 4, Frank Guida, Treasurer for Orlando’s Bahia Shriners, painted a dire picture of the organization’s finances: “…our cash has shriveled up. We are broke and we had to make some difficult decisions. As a result, we had to let go one of our valued employees who has been with us for many years.” In 2013, temple membership fell below 2,000 for the first time. Revenues (dues, rentals, circus) are down and expenses are up.
The problems faced by the Bahia Shriners are similar to those facing temples across the country (read our previous post). ARFF is convinced that the Shriners need to modernize to turn around the struggling organization. More than 100 Shrine temples in the U.S. and Canada will sponsor cruel circuses in 2013. In an effort to persuade the organization to improve its image and attract new members, ARFF has launched an online campaign to persuade Shriners International to discourage individual temples from conducting circus fundraisers. ARFF’s petition– www.change.org/petitions/shriners-international-stop-hosting-cruel-circuses — has attracted over 10,000 supporters since its launch in late June.
October 4, 2013 | News & Information
The Sahib Shrine Circus begins tonight in Sarasota. This year, the Shriners have ditched the elephants, tigers and other exotic animals in favor of a more human-centered show featuring “high-soaring trapeze,” aerial acrobatics, stunt motorcyclists, clowns, jugglers, a trick roper and a “world-renowned juggling sensation.” The show does include performing dogs and a horse act, but the new circus is a big step in the right direction. ARFF hopes that other Shrine temples will also focus on willing, human performers and leave the animals in peace.
Sign ARFF’s petition (click here) and send a message to Shriners International that animal free circuses should be encouraged.
