Governor Bob Riley Proclaims 1st Annual Alabama Week for Animals March 6-14, 2010!

(Birmingham, AL) Animal World USA is pleased to announce Governor Bob Riley has officially proclaimed 1st Annual Alabama Week for the Animals March 6-14, 2010! The statewide celebration is designed to celebrate and recognize the unique and life-changing role that animals play in the lives of citizens through all walks of life. The week will underscore community spirit throughout Alabama as citizens come together on behalf of the amazing animals.

The 1st Annual Alabama Week for the Animals is bringing together educators, animal shelters, humane organizations, sanctuaries, businesses, students, artists, community leaders, decision makers and caring citizens in a compassionate week of community activities for the animals!

This first ever special week features awesome fun-filled pet adoption events, blessing of the animals, free and low cost spay/neuter opportunities, "Sweet Dog Alabama" Adoption Days, student activities for shelters, pet therapy in hospitals, volunteer appreciation events, R.E.A.D. library events for young students, low cost microchipping and vaccinations, wildlife activities including frogs, pet food/supply donation opportunities to help local orgs, a salute to working K-9’s and handlers, Spay-ghetti Dinner with live musical concert and so much more! Events will be added daily leading up to kick of the week on March 6, 2010.

Precious lives will be saved and communities transformed during this incredible week. The 1st Annual Alabama Week for the Animals will build new relationships for the animals and save precious lives. Visit the official website for complete event information at http://www.alabamaanimals.org/ For complete contact information, please visit http://www.animalworldusa.org/

Witness to Suicide in San Francisco

Onlookers laugh as a man jumps to his death — and what this says about human nature

By Mat Thomas – www.animalrighter.org

I happened to be biking down Market Street in “my city by the Bay” one recent Tuesday afternoon when I saw a massive crowd gathered near the Powell Street cable car turnaround. They were frantically yelling, a combination of anxious cries and excited cheers, as though watching the climax of an intense sports match. I figured there must be a fistfight, but I was wrong…because the shouting then rose to a sudden cacophony punctuated by a dense fleshy thump.

I had never heard a sound like that in my life, and wondered what it could possibly be, so I crossed the street amidst a throng of people and the sound of screaming sirens to find out. On the sidewalk was a shirtless man, dead, laying face-down in a bloody puddle with a handful of cops standing over him. People were pointing up at the window ledge on the third-floor apartment he’d just jumped from, and holding cameras above their heads snapping pictures of the corpse.

This nightmarish scenario was disturbing enough, but far worse was overhearing numerous young people actually laughing at this man’s violent death, and saying things like “That was so cool!” One twenty-something woman passing within my earshot even loudly bragged to her friend on a cell phone that “I was yelling ‘Jump! Jump!’ And then he jumped!”

Call me naïve or out of touch, but I was actually shocked that anyone would find anything funny about a fellow human being taking his own life — and then broadcast their monstrous insouciance to everyone around them. Such demoralizing experiences force us to consider whether there is something fundamentally sick about today’s world, and what the true nature of humanity might be. Indeed, one need only look at our species’ vast victimization of animals to see that cruelty is seamlessly interwoven into the fabric of our everyday lives.

Is it fair to extrapolate from an isolated incident a thread that ties callous mockery of a suicide to the entire institution of industrialized animal exploitation? From an animal rights perspective, the answer is definitely yes, because the root of both evils is an utter lack of empathy for others. The main difference is merely one of social acceptability: while the overwhelming majority of people would agree that publicly urging a suicidal man to kill himself is an abomination, most of these very same individuals see absolutely nothing wrong with eating meat — a practice that forces torture and death on billions of animals a year.

I wonder whether those callous suicide cajolers and jokers have since felt any remorse for their actions — perhaps waking panic-stricken in the dark of night shuddering with secret shame. On the other hand, it’s worth noting that, of the hundreds of people who also watched this man die, most did not laugh, but rather cried openly in the arms of loved ones, or sought emotional solace from strangers, or stood silently awestruck alone contemplating the inconceivable. So perhaps not all hope for this world is lost.

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home

"Phenomenal film. Life-changing."

Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home is a new documentary by the award-winning filmmakers of The Witness. A story of transformation and healing, this groundbreaking new film explores the awakening conscience of several people who grew up in traditional farming culture and who have now come to question the basic premises of their inherited way of life.

Presented through a tapestry of memories, music, and riveting accounts of life-altering moments, the film provides insight into the farmers' sometimes amazing connections with the animals under their care, while also making clear the complex web of social, psychological and economic forces that have led them to their dilemma.
Interwoven with the farmers' stories is the dramatic animal rescue work of a newly-trained humane police officer whose sense of justice puts her at odds with the law she is charged to uphold.

With strikingly honest interviews and rare footage demonstrating the emotional lives and intense family bonds of animals most often viewed as living commodities, Peaceable Kingdom: The Journey Home shatters stereotypical notions of farmers, farm life, and perhaps most surprisingly, farm animals themselves.

Visit http://www.tribeofheart.org/

Director: Jenny Stein Producer: James LaVeck
Associate Producers: Eric Huang, Kevin Smith Featuring: Harold Brown, Howard Lyman, Willow Jeane Lyman, Cayce Mell, Jason Tracy, Cheri Ezell-Vandersluis and Jim Vandersluis
Musical score: Kevin Bartlett, Joy Askew

Home Massage for Dogs…Tips for Helping Your Dog Relax

By Joy Butler

A gentle home massage can give your dog comfort as well as aiding the nervous system and increasing circulation. You can vary your home massage in a number of ways.

Deep massage on dogs requires knowledge of anatomy and should be performed only by a trained and certified practitioner but there's no reason you can't give your pet a light, relaxing rubdown right at home.

Have your dog lie on a soft, firm surface such as a rug, although very small dogs can be done sitting or crouching on your lap. Start with several soft, slow strokes from head to tail. When your dog begins to relax, scratch gently behind the ears, moving to the cheeks, under the chin, over the nose, between the eyes and over the head. Rub each ear several times between your thumb and forefinger, working from base to tip.

Using three fingers, move slowly over the neck, shoulders, and chest in small, circular patterns, gently pinching folds of any loose skin in these areas. Lightly squeeze down the length of each foreleg, then place three fingers on each side of the leg and softly rub opposite directions several times. If your dog is comfortable with having his feet handled, use your thumb and forefinger and give each foot a couple of soft squeezes. This is a good time to look out for any burrs, ticks, or skin abnormalities. Use common sense in avoiding wounds, lumps, rashes or any sore spots.

The second phase of the massage can include placing your thumb and index finger on each side of the spine and 'walking' them toward the base of the tail, and then the outside of each thigh. You may also squeeze the length of the tail and move down the rear legs in the same way as on the front legs, if your dog doesn't protest. If at any point, your dog resists, respect his wish and move to the last area or technique he enjoyed. Finish up with several soft, slow strokes from head to tail.

Remember, deep massage should be done only by a trained and certified practitioner so it's very important to always keep your home massage light and gentle. When you finish, your dog will most likely be snoozing peacefully and you may be surprised to find your own tensions melted away as well.

2nd Annual Florida Week for Animals February 6-14, 2010 Will Save Lives, Join Communities Together

Record Number of Organizations and Variety of Events mark the kick off!

Feb 05, 2010 – Animal World USA is pleased to announce the 2nd Annual Florida Week for the Animals will kick off Saturday, February 6, 2010 and run through Sunday, February 14, 2010. The statewide celebration is designed to celebrate and recognize the unique and life-changing role that animals play in the lives of citizens through all walks of life. The week will again underscore community spirit throughout Florida as people come together on behalf of the amazing animals.

Beginning on February 6th the 2nd Annual Florida Week for the Animals will be bringing together educators, animal shelters, humane organizations, sanctuaries, businesses, students, artists, community leaders, decision makers and caring citizens in an action-packed compassionate week of community activities for the animals in an unprecedented manner!

This extraordinary week will feature a multitude of awesome fun-filled pet adoption events, events for the farm animals, festivals and blessings of the animals, free and low cost spay/neuter opportunities, microchipping, activities to help the feral cats, unique ways to help the horses, student activities for shelters, library events, free vaccinations, wildlife activities of all kinds, pet food/supply donation opportunities to help local orgs, vegetarian get-togethers, Valentine’s Day events, a salute to the military and so much more!

Precious lives will be saved and communities transformed during this incredible week. The 2nd Annual Florida Week for the Animals will build new relationships for the animals and save precious lives once again in a history-making manner. Visit the official website for complete event information at www.floridaanimals.org. Call 877-454-0807 and visit http://www.animalworldusa.org/


Animal World USA: Inspiring, educating and empowering communities to understand, love and protect the amazing animals of our world.

Act Now to Protect Great Apes

by Mat Thomas – www.animalrighter.org

"It's about the money. There's big bucks in this research, especially chimp research. We're talking millions. Millions of dollars."
– Narriman Fakier, former employee of New Iberia Research Center turned whistleblower

In March 2009, the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) released shocking video footage depicting the severe abuse of primates at New Iberia Research Center (NIRC) in Louisiana, where new medical and pharmaceutical treatments designed for humans are tested on more than 6,000 monkeys and chimpanzees.

The exposé documents an undercover investigator's nine-month stint posing as a lab tech, using hidden cameras to bring Big Science's dirty little secret to light: that researchers routinely violate basic animal welfare laws.

Torturing and killing our closest genetic cousins is not the only (or even best) way to understand our own medical maladies, and yet it continues, funded by our taxes: why?

One reason is that animal research is extremely profitable. Between 2000 and 2009, the National Institutes of Health granted NIRC more than $17 million in federal funds to conduct research on chimpanzees — public money they used to viciously persecute primates, both within and beyond the law, and often for decades on end. In this case, the government took appropriate action, with Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack ordering an investigation of NIRC's operations and pledging to punish anyone found guilty of Animal Welfare Act violations.

But while NIRC is one of the nation's larger primate research centers, it's trespasses only represent the tiny tip of vivisection's animal cruelty iceberg — what remains buried beneath the depths of deception is perhaps even worse, and the U.S. government clearly doesn't have the means to police every facility all the time.

Thankfully, Congress is now considering a pragmatic and compassionate solution: the Great Ape Protection Act (H.R. 1326). This bipartisan bill would phase out invasive research on great apes, ban the breeding of these primates for experimentation, and permanently retire hundreds of chimpanzees to sanctuaries.

There is strong public support for the bill — for instance, nearly two-thirds of respondents to an online WashingtonWatch.com survey indicated support — but powerful medical research institutions that would lose hundreds of millions in revenue if H.R. 1326 becomes law are also working hard to kill it.

The Society for Neuroscience (SfN) is one of many scientific associations that fears having their inalienable American "right" to sacrifice defenseless animals on the altar of medicine restricted. Recently, SfN emailed its members a "Call to Action" urging them to tell their Federal Representatives to oppose the Great Ape Protection Act.

Their sample letter to Congress even pretends to care about non-human species by emphasizing the "number of protections in place to ensure the welfare and well-being of these animals" — conspicuously ignoring the fact that existing laws are not being obeyed or enforced, as the video evidence from inside New Iberia and other primate research labs makes so painfully clear.

Make a difference: Call and write your Federal Representative urging him or her to co-sponsor and vote YES on the Great Ape Protection Act.
http://www.congress.org/