New York State Humane Lobby Day - March 24

Think only professional lobbyists can lobby? Think again! The Humane Society of the United States invites you to participate in the New York State Humane Lobby Day in Albany, where you’ll make a tremendous difference for animals.

This is an exciting opportunity to meet directly with your elected officials or their staff about legislation that will significantly impact animals. There will be a briefing on tips for lobbying and an overview of pending animal legislation which will prepare you to meet your elected officials and advocate for animals. RSVP today to lend your voice for animals and make a difference in New York.

Join SARO and other community members as we travel to Albany to talk our legislators to help pass laws cracking down on animal fighters, stopping puppy mills, ending canned shoots of captive exotic wildlife, protecting farm animals from cruel treatment, and doing the right thing for animals!

The 2010 New York State Humane Lobby Day is organized by The Humane Society of the United States and co-sponsored by Farm Sanctuary, Humane Society of New York, New York League of Humane Voters, and New York State Humane Association.

A chartered bus will be leaving early morning from the Regional Transportation Center in Syracuse heading to Albany and returning in the evening after the event.
There is no registration fee for attending NYS Humane Lobby Day. Those who would like to travel on our chartered bus from Syracuse/Utica to Albany and back can purchase a seat for $26 per traveler. This fee will allow us to cover the cost of the bus. The bus will leave Syracuse at 7:45am, and make a stop for pick up in Utica at 8:30am.
Those who arrive late will forfeit their seats. Fees are non-refundable and non-transferable.

The pick up stations are as follows:

SYRACUSE – 7:45am
Address: Regional Transportation Center

                131 Alliance Bank Pkwy

                Syracuse, NY 13208

UTICA – 8:30am
Address: 321 Main Street
                Utica, NY 13501

Date: Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Time: 11:00am - 4:30pm
Address: Empire State Plaza Convention Center

                Meeting Rooms 2 & 3

                Albany, NY 12242

 

If you'd like to attend this event please RSVP for the event and RSVP for the bus.

Meet With HSUS for Animals in Upstate New York

	Ithaca, New York HSUS Lobby 101 Seminar Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 6:30 - 8 p.m. Click here to RSVP. Watertown, New York HSUS Lobby 101 Seminar Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2009 6 - 8 p.m. Click here to RSVP. Syracuse, New York HSUS Grassroots Meeting Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2009 6:30 - 8 p.m. Click here to RSVP. Albany, New York HSUS Grassroots Meeting Thursday, Dec. 10, 2009 6:30 - 8 p.m. Click here to RSVP.

Dear Friend,

Great things are happening for animals across New York. I'm the New York State Director of the Humane Society of the United States and I'll be hosting several free events throughout Upstate New York next month. I hope you'll join me to learn how you can take action for animals. Check the list for an event near you and click the links to get more details and to RSVP.

The U.S. Congress and the New York state legislature will be considering legislation that would significantly impact animals, such as a bill to help strengthen animal fighting laws and a bill to stop the proliferation of puppy mills in New York. We want you to know the most effective ways to get involved and communicate your message.

I'll hold two Lobby 101 seminars -- Dec. 7 in Ithaca and Dec. 8 in Watertown. Lobby 101s will provide you with basic, but effective, lobby techniques for citizen activists and provide information regarding some of the bills and issues being considered this year.

I'll also hold two grassroots meetings -- Dec. 9 in Syracuse and Dec. 10 in Albany. At these grassroots meetings, you'll have the opportunity to discuss current issues affecting animals and receive an update on animal protection legislation in which HSUS is currently engaged.

All events are free of charge, but an RSVP is requested to attend. Click on the links to learn more and to RSVP now.

Hope to see you at one of these events!

Sincerely,

Patrick Kwan
New York State Director
The Humane Society of the United States

P.S. Join The HSUS New York State group on Facebook. It's free (and fun) to set up your own profile and get involved.

P.P.S. Follow me on Twitter at twitter.com/heypatrick.

Happy Tofurky Day

May peace be in your diet this holiday season.

Regional Fur Free Friday Demonstration

Fur Free Friday is an anti-fur action day held every year the day after Thanksgiving-the busiest shopping day of the year. Join local anti-fur activists from across the state to protest the cruel and unnecessary killing of animals for their fur. We will hold signs and distribute literature encouraging consumers to choose cruelty free fashions. For more information about Fur Free Friday, visit www.furkills.org. Posters and literature provided or you can bring your own!

Where: Skaneateles Furs at 44 East Genesee Street, Skaneateles, NY 13152

What: Peaceful legal protest with signs, banners and fliers about the gruesome truth of the fur industry. It may be COLD! Wear a hat and gloves!

When: Friday Nov. 27th from 1-2pm

Carpool Info: Meet at the S.U. Schine Student Center loading dock area
on Waverly Ave. in Syracuse at 12noon sharp.

Carpool Map:

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Murder in a Chicken Slaughter House

As animal advocates we know that thousands upon thousands of "murders" happen each day in slaughter houses across the country. Did you know that footage of video filmed in these slaughter houses has mad it's way to prime time television? In this week's episode of "BONES", staring David Boreanaz and Emily Deschanel, both of whom have done PETA ads, if you watch closely you will see footage supplied to the producers of the show by Farm Sanctuary and PETA.

While the show originally aired this past Thursday, November 5th, you can catch the complete episode on Hulu until December 18th.

Make A (Local) Call for the Animals

Call-in to the Carousel Mall for hosting Georgio's Furs and L'Adour for their continued sale of foie gras all day Sunday.

Georgio's Furs:
Carousel Mall in Syracuse, NY may be best known for its shopping experience, but harboring a full-scale fur salon is making the mall atmosphere synonymous with cruelty to animals. The Carousel Center continues to host Georgio's Furs despite knowing the suffering that goes into every fur hat and coat. Repeated attempts by shoppers and community groups to communicate their concerns about Carousel Mall hosting Georgio's have been ignored. Help us remove Georgio's from the mall forever.

Carousel Mall customer service: 316-466-7000 315-466-7000

What to say:
"Hello this is [YOUR NAME] calling from [YOUR LOCATION] When Georgio's was first given a lease in the Carousel Center, over 1,200 people signed a petition to the mall management against allowing a fur store. I am calling with my concerns about Georgio's Furs being allowed in the mall this holiday season.
1. a fur salon is contradictory to the environmentally friendly image the mall is seeking to promote
2. the fur industry is horrendously cruel (describe how) and is inappropriate in a family friendly setting.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing that Georgio's Furs will not have a storefront in the mall in the future."



L'Adour - Foie Gras

After being made aware of the inherent cruelty to ducks during foie gras production, L'Adour refuses to take the product off the menu.

Syracuse Animal Rights Organization has spoken with the owners, handed leaflets to hundreds of patrons and held over 50 public outreach demonstrations at this restaurant. Recently, L'Adour has begun to not admit they serve foie gras over the phone but it is still on their menu. L'Adour's foie gras supplier is the well-documented Hudson Valley Foie Gras, notorious for animal, worker and environmental violations. For more information about foie gras, visit www.nofoiegras.org and www.ladourpollutes.com. Let L'Adour know that while the ducks are suffering, they will continue to hear from compassionate people.

Call L'Adour at: 315-475-7653

PETA Dumping Dairy Covered In Post-Standard

PETA's downtown protest focuses on poor treatment of cows

By The Post-Standard

October 22, 2009, 3:06PM

By Lynette Chen / Contributing writer
Syracuse, NY -- Dressed as a cow, a supporter of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals dumped gallons of “milk”— actually floured water — today in front of a downtown Syracuse grocery store.

The action at C.L. Evers & Co. on Water Street was part of a protest against what PETA refers to as factory dairy farms and their poor treatment of cows.

Virginia Fort, assistant campaign coordinator at PETA, wore a body-screen TV showing newly released footage taken by a whistleblower at a farm that supplies the Land O’Lakes company. The video shows sick, exhausted cows struggling to stand and being forced to hobble through a massive build-up of their own waste.

“You may want to stop drinking dairy after seeing this,” Fort said. “We want people who go in there and buy milk to know what’s going on behind the scenes of factory farms.

Dairy cows are kept consistently pregnant and forced to produce up to 10 times more than they actually would, Fort said. After several years of abuse, their bodies are shipped off to slaughters where they are made into ground beef , soup or hamburgers, she said.

The footage was taken during a PETA undercover investigation at a farm in Pennsylvania. PETA regularly sends volunteers wearing hidden cameras to factory farms and warehouses to capture footage of what may be shoddy practices, Fort said. Investigators found cows that were sick and unable to move, denied medical care despite being in pain and abused by the farm’s owners. PETA said it is filing complaints against the farm.

No one at the grocery store agreed to comment on the record about the demonstration.

Source: http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/petas_downtown_protest_focuses.html

Gallons of Milk Dumped at Syracuse Grocery Store by Angry PETA Activists

Video Shot at a Land O'Lakes Supplier's Facility Shows How Cows and Calves Are Left to Suffer on Factory Dairy Farms



For Immediate Release:
October 21, 2009
Contact:
Shakira Croce 757-622-7382

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Dressed as a cow, a PETA supporter will dump gallons of "milk" outside a grocery store in Syracuse as part of a protest against cruel factory dairy farms. Another protester will wear a body-screen TV showing newly released video footage taken by a whistleblower at a farm that supplies Land O'Lakes. The video--which shows sick, exhausted cows struggling to stand and being forced to hobble through a massive build-up of their own waste--will reveal to consumers how much filth and suffering goes into the production of milk and other dairy products. The cows suffered from painful infections and severe lameness, and animals were kept in miserable conditions and deprived of even basic care. Some of the animals went untreated and were not put out of their misery when they were in pain and unable to stand.


When:   Thursday, October 22, 1 p.m.


Where:  C.L. Evers & Company, 214 W. Water St., Syracuse



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"This investigation shows that when you don't wean yourself off milk, butter, and cheese, you may be paying someone to cause great suffering to animals on factory farms," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Anyone with a conscience will find this footage disturbing, but people can help stop these abuses by dropping dairy products from their diets."

PETA launched the investigation after a whistleblower working at the farm became concerned about conditions there and contacted PETA for help earlier this year. Investigators discovered cows who were sick and unable to move, were denied medical care despite being in pain, and were abused by the farm's owners. The owners--a man and his son--have now been charged with cruelty to animals.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

'Fowl Play: The truth behind your breakfast'

Join SARO for a free screening of the award-winning documentary by Adam Durand, Fowl Play.

This powerful film takes viewers on an unforgettable journey behind the closed doors of some of the country's largest egg production facilities and graphically illustrates the heartbreaking plight of laying hens condemned to lives crowded inside file-drawer-sized cages.

Through touching interviews with animal rescuers, undercover investigators, veterinarians, and animal behaviorists, we hear compelling stories motivated by kindness and courage from the dedicated individuals who are fighting to save the modern day hen - perhaps the most abused and exploited animal on earth.

Adam will be at this screening to take question from the audience after the showing. To learn more about the film, visit www.FowlPlayMovie.com.

Where: Kittredge Auditorium - HBC Building - Syracuse University Campus, Syracuse, NY (behind the Hall of Languages)

When: 7 p.m.