October 25, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: October 25, 2013
(Ocala, FL) — The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) is applauding a decision by Florida Park Service Director Donald Forgione not to grant permission for trappers to remove rhesus macaques from Silver Springs State Park for sale to laboratories. Director Forgione explained that the Florida Park Service is looking into alternative methods of reducing the monkey population at the park.
Monkeys were most recently trapped in early 2012 along the Silver River, as well as on Cross Florida Greenway properties along the Oklawaha River. ARFF is working to determine if the Office of Greenways and Trails will allow trapping on the Cross Florida Greenway in the coming months.
“We are very happy that Silver Springs State Park will once again be known for its natural beauty and outdoor activities, and not as a supplier of animals for cruel laboratory experimentation,” said ARFF Communications Director Don Anthony. “The Florida Park Service has set a compassionate example that the Office of Greenways and Trails should follow.”
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July 1, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: July 1, 2013
(Tallahassee, FL) — On Friday, June 28, Governor Rick Scott signed into law House Bill 851, reinstating a ban on the artificial coloring and sale of baby chickens, ducklings and rabbits. The new law takes effect July 1.
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) thanks Senator Maria Sachs, Senator Jeff Brandes and Representative Jared Evan Moskowitz for their leadership in getting these important protections for animals to the Governor’s desk.
“ARFF is very happy that Governor Scott has signed legislation to restore protections afforded animals in the 1967 law that was repealed last year,” said ARFF Communications Director Don Anthony. “Once again, bunnies, chicks and ducklings are protected from neglect or abandonment.”
In addition to reinstating the prohibition on artificial coloring and sale of animals, House Bill 851 also strengthens Florida’s animal cruelty law by specifying that a person who commits multiple acts of cruelty against one animal or acts of cruelty against more than one animal may be charged with a separate offense for each act, and by making animal fighting punishable under Florida’s anti-racketeering (RICO) law.
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May 9, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: May 9, 2013
(Tallahassee, FL) — Animal advocates are hopeful that Florida Governor Rick Scott will once again reject state funding to promote alligator products.
The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) has sent a letter to Gov. Scott urging him to veto $250,000 that has been included in the 2013-2014 budget for “alligator marketing.” Budget items 1435 ($100,000) and 1756 ($150,000) are intended to promote alligator meat, leather and by-products.
In 2011, Gov. Scott vetoed $150,000 that was budgeted for alligator marketing.
“We are urging Gov. Scott not to waste state funds to promote alligator products,” said Don Anthony, ARFF’s Communications Director. “The State of Florida should not be in the business of marketing the meat and skin of this unique Florida animal.”
On alligator farms in Florida, thousands of these magnificent animals are killed each year. Farmed alligators often live in dirty, crowded, unnatural conditions in concrete or metal tanks. Disease is commonplace, and slaughter is inhumane.
A copy of ARFF’s letter is available upon request.
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April 16, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: April 16, 2013
(Kissimmee, FL) — On Tuesday, April 16 the Kissimmee City Commission will consider an ordinance to prohibit the public slaughter of animals. The proposed ordinance is in response to citizen complaints about the butchering of wild pigs and other hunted animals in public view. The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) has sent a letter to commissioners urging them to reject the ordinance.
“The killing and butchering of an animal– whether the unfortunate animal is a wild pig, deer, cow or a chicken– is horrible to witness, but that is exactly why it shouldn’t be hidden behind the walls of a slaughterhouse,” said ARFF Communications Director Don Anthony. “We urge the City of Kissimmee to either reject the proposed ban on the public slaughter of animals, or ban slaughter completely in the city.”
Paul McCartney famously said, “If slaughterhouses had glass walls, everyone would be vegetarian.” Although that is an exaggeration, it is true that animal slaughter in plain sight, along with the cries of animals and the smell of blood, would be a powerful reminder of the individual animals behind the meat on people’s plates.
For animal advocates working for a future without slaughterhouses, that day might come faster if it was impossible for meat eaters to hide from the slaughterhouse.
*ARFF’s letter to the city commission is available upon request
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March 29, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: March 29, 2013
As Florida marks five centuries of European influence, the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) is making the case that it’s time to welcome wild pigs as a Florida animal.
Although Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de Leon may not have had pigs with him when his ships first landed in Florida in April 1513, it’s believed that he brought pigs to Florida on his return trip eight years later. Descendents of these pigs (as well as pigs from Hernando de Soto’s 1539 expedition) roam, root and reproduce across Florida today. Florida was likely the first state in the continental United States to have pigs.
“This year there will be events and exhibits celebrating the introduction by the Spanish of horses, cattle and oranges to Florida,” said ARFF Communications Director Don Anthony. “We want to take this opportunity to remind people that pigs have also been in Florida for (almost) 500 years.”
The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) considers wild pigs, and every plant or animal that “did not historically occur in Florida,” to be non-native. This designation may not mean much for cracker horses or oranges, but it has been used as justification for horrible acts of cruelty against wild pigs.
“In Florida hunters use packs of dogs, and primitive weapons like knives and spears, to chase down and kill wild pigs,” Anthony said. “Such cruel acts would not be allowed in the pursuit of deer or other ‘native’ animals in Florida.”
ARFF is calling on the FWC to end the use of dogs to hunt wild pigs, prohibit the use of inhumane weapons, such as spears and swords, and prohibit castration by hunters of young male pigs without anesthesia.
Visit ARFF’s website– www.arff.org/wild-pigs –for more information about wild pigs in Florida.
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January 17, 2013 | News Releases
For Immediate Release: January 17, 2013
(West Palm Beach, FL) — The Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) is calling for the retirement of an elderly Asian elephant who will perform at the South Florida Fair beginning January 18.
This year’s fair features “Elephant Encounter,” a show that travels with two elephants owned by Bill Morris of Gibsonton, Florida. ARFF believes that one of the elephants, Cora, is over 60 years old. She may be the oldest elephant still traveling and performing in the United States. Elderly elephants often suffer from arthritis and foot and joint problems that are made worse by confinement.
“Cora has spent more than five decades performing in circuses and at county fairs. She deserves a peaceful retirement,” said Don Anthony, ARFF Communications Director. “We are pleading with Bill Morris and the South Florida Fair to take Cora off the road and allow her to spend her remaining years free from the stresses of traveling and performing.”
Violent, physical abuse remains a common method of training and controlling elephants in circuses and traveling shows. In 2003, Bill Morris was filmed cruelly using a bullhook on Cora (the video is available on ARFF’s YouTube page: www.youtube.com/AnimalsFlorida).
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